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He was suspended by his college hockey team two months ago. From AP-
Andrew Conboy, suspended by Michigan State this season for an attack on a Michigan player, signed a three-year contract with the Montreal Canadiens on Monday.
Conboy opted to turn pro with Hamilton of the AHL, Montreal’s top farm team, after he was suspended. The 6-foot-4, 200-pound left wing has one assist and four penalty minutes in seven games with the Bulldogs.
The 20-year-old Conboy and teammate Corey Tropp, a Buffalo Sabres prospect, were suspended for the rest of the regular season and the playoffs by the Spartans on Jan. 26 after an incident with less than 1 minute to play in a 5-3 loss to the Wolverines.
After Michigan’s Steve Kampfer knocked Tropp down with an open-ice hit, he was punched to the ice from behind by Conboy, and Tropp then swung his stick at the Anaheim prospect’s head. Kampfer was taken to hospital with a sprained neck, but there was no concussion.
This guy is an animal. I swung a hockey stick at a player’s neck. The NHL could have another Todd Bertuzzi in the making.
I remember Van Pelt very well. That in spite of my being a Jet fan. Most of my family were Met and Giant fans who hate the Yankees but were at worst indifferent about the Jets. That’s how I felt and feel towards the Giants today and when Van Pelt played for them. RIP.
Giants great Brad Van Pelt is dead of an apparent heart attack at age 57.
He was found in his chair by his fiancée Tuesday at the house they recently purchased together in his hometown of Owosso, Michigan, according to former teammates Harry Carson and Brian Kelley.
Together with Lawrence Taylor, they formed the unit known as the Crunch Bunch, considered one of the top linebacking corps in Giants history, from 1981 to ‘83. They have remained close ever since, doing everything from golf outings to charity work together.
“I’m saddened,” Carson told the Daily News. “I lost a teammate and my very good friend, He went much too soon at 57.”
“Un-frigging-believable,” Kelley told the Daily News. “He didn’t deserve this. He was just a good person, such a great guy who would give you the shirt off his back. He wasn’t material, he didn’t own a lot of things. My wife nailed it when she said he had the Peter Pan Syndrome. He just never wanted to grow up.”
“Deanna (his fiancée) walked into the house. He was sitting up in the chair smiling but he wasn’t moving,” Kelley said. “She called 911 but he’d been gone for a couple of hours. I called her this morning. She said he was smiling so obviously he went peacefully.”
Kelley said he called Taylor with news Tuesday night and all L.T, could say was, “No, no, no.”
Van Pelt was the Giants’ first draft pick out of Michigan State in 1973 and spent the first 11 years of a 14-year NFL career with them.
Although he enjoyed just one winning season as a Giant, when the team reached the playoffs in 1981, he was voted the team’s Player of the Decade for the 1970s and was a five-time Pro Bowl selection. After leaving the Giants, he played two years for the Raiders before ending his career with Cleveland in 1986.
Van Pelt, who also starred in baseball and played basketball at Michigan State, was a two-time All American safety and the 1972 winner of the Maxwell Award as the nation’s best player. He was inducted into the College Hall of Fame in 2001 and nominated for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2005.
Van Pelt’s son, Bradlee, was a backup quarterback for the Broncos and Texans and just two weeks ago, was given a tryout as a safety by the Giants. His father, Arnold, passed away from a heart attack at age 49 in 1976.
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No I’m not talking about some middle aged man propelling a ball at some objects at the end of a lane, but the games that climax every college football season. Bowl season officially starts this Saturday, here are the matchups for all the college football fanatics out there.
Dec 20
Eaglebank Bowl- Wake Forest vs Navy
New Mexico Bowl- Colorado State vs Fresno St
MAGICJACK ST. PETERSBURG BOWL- Memphis vs. South Florida
PIONEER LAS VEGAS BOWL- Brigham Young vs Arizona
Dec 21
R+L CARRIERS NEW ORLEANS BOWL- Southern Miss vs. Troy
Dec 23
SAN DIEGO COUNTY CREDIT UNION POINSETTIA BOWL- Boise St vs TCU
Dec 24
SHERATON HAWAII BOWL- Hawaii vs Notre Dame
Dec 26
MOTOR CITY BOWL- Florida Atlantic vs. Central Michigan
Saturday, December 27
MEINEKE CAR CARE BOWL- West Virginia vs. North Carolina
Champs Sports Bowl- Wisconsin vs. Florida State
Emerald Bowl- Miami (FL) vs. California
December 28
Independence Bowl- Northern Illinois vs. Louisiana Tech
PAPAJOHNS.COM BOWL- North Carolina State vs. Rutgers
Valero Alamo Bowl- Missouri vs. No. 23 Northwestern
Tuesday, December 30
ROADY’S HUMANITARIAN BOWL- Maryland vs. Nevada
PACIFIC LIFE HOLIDAY BOWL- Oklahoma State vs. No. 17 Oregon
Texas Bowl- Western Michigan vs. Rice
Wednesday, December 31
BELL HELICOPTER ARMED FORCES BOWL- Houston vs. Air Force
Sun Bowl- Oregon State vs. Pittsburgh
GAYLORD HOTELS MUSIC CITY BOWL- Boston College vs. Vanderbilt
Insight Bowl- Kansas vs. Minnesota
CHICK-FIL-A BOWL- LSU vs. Georgia Tech
Thursday, January 1
OUTBACK BOWL- South Carolina vs. Iowa
CAPITAL ONE BOWL- Georgia vs. Michigan State
Gator Bowl- Nebraska vs. Clemson
Rose Bowl- Penn State vs. USC
Fedex Orange Bowl- Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech
Friday, January 2
Cotton Bowl- Mississippi vs. Texas Tech
AUTOZONE LIBERTY BOWL- Kentucky vs. East Carolina
ALLSTATE SUGAR BOWL- Utah vs. Alabama
January 3
INTERNATIONAL BOWL- Buffalo vs. Connecticut
January 5
TOSTITOS FIESTA BOWL- Ohio State vs. Texas
January 6
GMAC Bowl- Ball State vs. Tulsa*
January 8
FEDEX BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME- Florida vs. Oklahoma
That’s 34 games, 68 schools spread over a period of 20 days for those of you keeping score at home. An ample supply of college football for any fanatics out there.
A few notes
*- There are a few bowl games remaining without corporate names in their title. Gator, Sun, Texas, Independence. Were these games unable to find sponsors?
*- Will Oklahoma St. and Oregon combine for 70 pts or more in the Holiday Bowl? This annually has been of the most high scoring affairs.
*- Oh how has the Orange Bowl dropped. A game that featured early triumphs of Joe Paterno led Penn State, Nebraska and Oklahoma in their glory days, the first major bowl appearance of Florida State, and the all time classic 84 battle between Nebraska and Miami, has Cincinnati and Virginia Tech playing this year. I’m sure they are talented football teams, but how many people are drooling to see them play in a prime-time network slot?
*- Arizona and BYU meet in a bowl 30 years after the former left the WAC conference for the higher profile Pac Eight(Now Ten, Arizona State joined also)
*- Vanderbilt makes a rare bowl appearance. Congratulations to Commodore fans, but this is a sign of how bowls are grown way out of proportion. 6-6 college teams get bids. When I was growing up I could remember Florida State going without a bowl in 1978 even though they finished the season 8-3.
It is my humble opinion that bowl season has gotten out of hand. Someone may say what’s the big deal? If someone wants to start a bowl game and there are two schools willing to play in it, does their records matter. A good football isn’t only a contest between stars at big name schools.
All true, but how much public money is spent on these affairs? Many of the teams are state universities who get funded by taxpayers. Then there is the game itself where police have to be taken from other tasks to work the day or night of the game or paid over-time.
With the economic downturn right now, you have to wonder if there will be less bowls in the near future. That would depend on how long a deal a corporate sponsor signed on for. I wonder how many fans of some schools plan to make a bowl trip. Are there 1,000 or more FAU Owls willing to journey from Florida to Michigan in December to watch the team play? Even if I were a Owl fan and had money, I’d stay home.
Enjoy the games.
A poor knee had left the Danish native unable to find football work in 2008. From AP-
Kicker Morten Andersen, the NFL’s career-leading scorer, is retiring because of knee problems.
The 48-year-old Dane, who scored 2,544 points during his 25-year career, played for the Atlanta Falcons the past two seasons but wasn’t able to get a contract this year. Andersen said Monday he has given up his search and his NFL career.
Morten Andersen cited old knees and lack of a contract Monday when announcing his retirement in his native Denmark.
He kicked for five NFL teams in 25 years, including 13 seasons for the New Orleans Saints, eight for the Falcons, two for the Kansas City Chiefs and one season each with the New York Giants and the Vikings.
A Copenhagen native, Andersen went to the United States in 1977 as an exchange student and played at Michigan State.
Good luck in retirement Morten.
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