Highlight Game April 14 2000 Pittsburgh

Considering the lack of long-term research regarding football players and head trauma, the NFL's new stance comes not a second too soon."That's my biggest concern. How am I going to be when I'm 50 or when I'm 60," Westbrook wondered on Tuesday. "Will I have all these brain diseases and will I have a problem remembering things...Now, I'm trying to get myself together with the help of the doctors as well as coach Andy Reid and the training staff. Now, the most important thing is to get 100 percent healthy and not play football...until I'm 100 percent healthy."And yet...coach Reid (who just signed a contract extension on Wednesday that will keep him in Philadelphia through 2013) brought Westbrook back to practice on Wednesday to run plays with the scout team. You see the situation with boxers and they just want to fight the next fight and you ask them why they want to come back and I think it's because of the love of the game You feel like you can still play. In my situation, I still think I can play, still think I can produce."Really what I've learned from the doctors is that I don't have a high risk of getting a concussion by coming back after healing completely That's the number one thing You have to heal completely before you come back I want to play football.

Louis Rams, and Kansas City Chiefs in his nine-year NFL career. Turley recalls a time when a concussed teammate of his passed out after a game in the cold tub ("I don’t know anyone who has ever passed out in the cold tub," Turley said), then denied that anything was wrong.Gladwell surmises, "That moment in the cold tub represented a betrayal of trust He had taken the hit on behalf of his team. He was then left to pass out in the cold tub, and to deal ten and twenty years down the road with the consequences. No amount of money or assurances about risk freely assumed can change the fact that, in this moment, an essential bond had been broken. What football must confront, in the end, is not just the problem of injuries or scientific findings. It is the fact that there is something profoundly awry in the relationship between the players and the game."For the sake of Brian Westbrook's long-term well-being and for any Eagles fans who hope to ever see No.

36 put on an Eagles uniform again...it's become time to pray.It's not time to pray that Westbrook fulfills his reckless dreams and returns to the field this season.It's time to pray that Westbrook comes to realize that the consequences of returning this season far outweigh any potential benefits. And it's time to pray that the Eagles don't jeopardize one man's future for the sake of football, no matter how far they go this season.. Were Carlos Delgado and John Olerud more valuable with the bat than Keith Hernandeza star with the glove two decades earlierIs David Wright's combination of speed and power enough to see off Howard Johnsonthe All-Star who took the current face of the franchise under his wing this winter to iron out his swingIs power more important than speed Is the past worth more the presentIt all points to one question with hundreds of possibilities: Which New York Met had the greatest offensive season at his positionMajor League Baseball has been asking fans this same question in an effort to choose each team's best-ever collection of stars.They are calling it MLB 9s.In the 48-year history of the franchise, the Mets have been to the playoffs seven times and have won the World Series twice.Do the achievements ofDarryl Strawberry and Cleon Joneswho won world championship rings with the Mets in 1986 and 1969 respectivelyovershadow the likes of Carlos Beltran, who has yet to play in a World Series gameHere I have separated the contenders from the pretenders in an effort to pick my dream Mets lineup, based on their one career year.My other MLB 9s you might want to check out are:Diamondbacks , Braves , Orioles , Red Sox , Cubs , White Sox , Reds , Indians , Rockies , Tigers , Marlins , Royals , Angels , Dodgers , and Twins . Catcher: Mike Piazza (2000)Even though Piazza's best statistical years arguably came during his time as a Dodger, Mets fans have a special place in their heart for him.In 2000, Piazza hit 38 home runs, drove in 113 runs, and batted .324 on his way to third place in the MVP voting.The greatest hitting catcher of all time was selected to the All-Star game for the eighth consecutive season, while winning his eighth Silver Slugger award.Piazza's batting average ranked 10th in the National League, and his .614 slugging percentage was ninth best.Only Todd Hundley has hit more home runs as a Mets backstop, while his 113 runs batted in rank 10th all-time within the franchise for a season.Highlight Game: April 14, 2000 Pittsburgh. Piazza broke a seventh-inning 2-2 tie with a solo home run off Jason Schmidt and followed it up with a two-run bomb in the 12th to help the Mets see off the Pirates 8-5 at Three Rivers Stadium.Piazza finished the game 5-for-6 with a double, four runs batted in, and a walk, raising his early-season batting average from .265 to .350 after the first fortnight of the year.Competition: Hundley's 41 home runs and 112 runs batted in came with a .259 batting average, and Paul Lo Duca's .318 clip in 2006 only yielded five homers.Gary Carter's 1985 season is somewhere in between, good enough for second place. He went deep 32 times, batted .281, drove in 100 batters, and scored 83 runs. He is only one of three Mets catchers in history to have a 100-RBI season. First Base: John Olerud (1998)Olerud shone during his second season in New York, batting .354 with 22 home runs and a .447 on-base percentage.Olerud scored 91 runs, drove in 93 men, and walked 96 times in the best offensive season he put together since 1993 in Toronto.The first baseman finished second to Colorado's Larry Walker for the batting title, fourth in the National League in walks, and eighth in hits (197).Olerud's 22 home runs are eighth best by a Mets firstbaseman, while his batting average and OBP are both franchise highs by any Met ever.Highlight Game: July 11, 1998 vs Montreal.

Olerud connected on his only multi-homer game of the season with a 4-for-4 performance against the Expos.Olerud hit a pair of solo home runs, scored three runs, and drove in three in an 8-4 victory.Competition: Carlos Delgado hit 38 home runsthe most by any Mets first basemanin 2008, driving in 115 runs and scoring 96, while batting .271.Keith Hernandez hit .310 in 1986 with 13 homers and 94 runs, finishing fourth in the MVP vote and going to his second All-Star game as a Met.He led the NL with 94 walks and proved he was just as valuable with the bat as he was with his glove.His 1984 season is also worthy of consideration. Second Base: Edgardo Alfonzo (1999)Alfonzo holds the single-season record for home runs (27), RBI (108), and runs scored (123) by any Mets second baseman.He set the highs during the 1999 season, when he also hit 41 doubles, drew 85 walks, batted .304, and slugged .502.Alfonzo won his first and only Silver Slugger award and finished eighth in the MVP voting.Highlight Game: Aug 30, 1999 Houston. Alfonzo hit a career-high three home runs in a 17-1 beatdown of the Astros.Alfonzo went a perfect 6-for-6 with six runs, five RBI, and a double. He hit a solo shot in the first inning off Shane Reynolds, a two-run bomb off Brian Williams in the fourth, and a solo home run off Sean Bergman in the sixth.Competition: Alfonzo stands head and shoulders above all other Mets second basemen when you consider the greatest single offensive season.Jeff Kent hit 21 home runs and batted .270 for the Mets in 1993, and Gregg Jefferies hit 15 with a .283 clip in 1990.No other second baseman has recorded triple-digit RBI totals or topped 100 runs scored in a single year. Third Base: David Wright (2007)Wright gets the nod over Howard Johnson for his 2007 season when he hit 30 home runs and finished the year with a .325 batting average.He scored 113 times, knocked in 107 runs, and swiped 34 bases in one of the most well-rounded offensive seasons in recent memory.No Mets third baseman has scored more runs in a single season (other than the 115 Wright himself had in 2008), and only Robin Ventura has recorded more RBI in one year.His 34 steals ranks second all-time for Mets at the hot corner, while his 30 home runs is good enough for sixth on the list.Highlight Game: May 19, 2007 vs New York Yankees. Wright hit a pair of two-run home runs off Mike Myers, as the Mets edged the Yanks 10-7 at Shea Stadium.After being burned twice in Wright's first two at-bats, the Yankees intentionally walked him in the fourth, sixth, and eighth innings with four more runners on base.Wright stole second base and came around to score an insurance run in the eighth inning, which eventually put the game beyond reach.Competition: HoJo had a memorable 1989 season with 36 home runs, 101 RBI, and 41 steals. Only his .287 batting average held him back, although for Johnson that marked a career high for the lifetime .249 hitter.HoJo was arguably just as good in 1991 when he led the NL with 38 homers and 117 RBI.Ventura launched 32 home runs in 1999 and drove in 120 runsthe most by a Mets third baseman. Shortstop: Jose Reyes (2006)The Mets have never had a more offensively-charged shortstop than Jose Reyes.