More woe for Eels, Hayne & UFC in this week’s top 10 tweets

by Aaron Robinson 0
Twitter

 
WHO needs to constantly check Fox Sports, watch the news, or read the paper for the latest in sports news?

Just log on to Twitter and scroll through for the most comprehensive and hilarious coverage of the sporting landscape.

Here are the top 10 stories from the Twitterverse this week.

10. Parramatta in the news again

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a dozen times this year: just when you thought things couldn’t get much worse for the Parramatta Eels, they do.

Corey Norman has been stood down by the Eels ahead of their round 19 clash with the Penrith Panthers after he pleaded guilty in court to drug possession. In a big week for Norman, an explicit video of him pouring beer on a woman during a sex act was also leaked.

Since Keiran Foran fled the club last week, this leaves the Eels scraping the bottom of the barrel for a genuine halves pairing. No halves and the loss of 12 competition points has the Eels’ season as bright and positive as the ending of the movie Se7en.

WilliamHill.com.au has Parramatta’s chances of taking out the 2016 NRL Grand Final at $151, which had a bit of value while the team still had Norman. Now that price seems optimistic.

9. State of Origin, Game 3

With the series won, Game Three at ANZ stadium was a dead rubber.

It’s hard to remember who really won this game, but with a penalty count that could easily be confused for the end score (12-3) it’s easy to see why die-hard Origin fans across the nation are beginning to mutter, “Origin is dead”.

The referees ruined a perfectly good game of footy this week by blowing their whistles like they were stranded at sea.

At the end of it all the Blues won the match 18-14 after Michael Jennings fell over the line in the last minute.

But this game won’t be remembered for the result; it will be remembered for nanny-state refereeing and Andrew Fifita’s psychotic brain snap.

8. Lesnar tests positive after UFC200

https://twitter.com/markhunt1974/status/754181657498947584

In the lead-up to the seemingly cursed UFC200, Mark Hunt was very vocal about Brock Lesnar’s history of taking more drugs than Charlie Sheen.

Jon Jones was dropped for the event after the USADA found one of his tests came back positive. That left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth, but UFC200 has come and gone since then.

Lesnar and Hunt went toe-to-toe for three rounds until Lesnar, the behemoth, simply smothered Hunt with his sheer weight and size and belted him into oblivion.

Now it has been revealed one of Lesnar’s out-of-competition USADA random drug tests has returned positive.

In the aftermath, Hunt has come out demanding Lesnar be stripped of his multi-million-dollar purse for winning the fight. The Aussie-Kiwi star has even gone so far as to threaten an immediate departure from the UFC if Lesnar isn’t stripped of his winnings.

All this malarkey only compounds the theory that UFC200 was cursed by an angry gypsy for some reason or another.

7. Hayne misses out on Olympics

Jarryd Hayne harpooned his NRL career to chase his life-long dream to be an NFL player, only to throw that under the bus to follow his other life-long dream of playing rugby seven’s for Fiji at the Olympics.

But it turns out Fiji doesn’t want him.

So now, as a result, Hayne is a man without a home. He threw the NFL away because it was too hard to get a run, and he wasn’t picked for Fiji in the Olympics. Now, with tail firmly tucked between his legs, Hayne is flirting with a slew of NRL teams.

Now that Hayne has been dropped, Sportsbet.com.au has Fiji as $3 favourites to take the gold medal at Rio 2016.

6. Brady drops Deflategate case against NFL

The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Tom Brady’s appeal against his four-game suspension after the “Deflategate” scandal that rocked the NFL last year.

This finally puts an end to one of the most bizarre circus events in NFL history.

It all began with Brady’s New England Patriots flogging the Indianapolis Colts 45-7 in January 2015. During the game there were suspicions the balls were well below the NFL-sanctioned PSI standards for air inflation. From there everything spiralled out of control, with NFL big-wigs and members of the media trading insults and arguing over physics.

Brady was thrown under the bus as a sacrificial lamb to minimise the NFL’s apparent blasé attitude towards the monitoring of ball’s air pressure. They say Brady was “generally aware” other members of the Patriots staff were deflating balls, so they suspended him for four games without pay.

Despite all this weirdness, the Patriots are still even favourites with the Seattle Seahawks ($9.50 at Sportsbet) to take out Super Bowl 2016.

5. The knockout that proves Pokémon Go has gone too far

Michael Page took his love for Pokémon Go too far after his second round knockout of Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos at Bellator 158 in London on the weekend.

Pokémon Go has taken the world by the short and curlies, with every man and his dog trying to catch them all.

After knocking out Cyborg with a flying knee, Page donned Ash Ketchum’s iconic Pokémon hat and rolled a Pokeball at the writhing body of Santos.

4. The aftermath of the Pokémon Go celebration

Once the Pokeballs had rolled away and the crowd had gone home, the true extent of Page’s flying knee to Evangelista Santos’ forehead were revealed.

Santos’ ex-wife, Cris “Cyborg” Justino, posted an X-ray of his fractured skull, which showed his forehead caved in completely by the flying knee.

The extent of Santos’ injury has been compared with a car crash. He isn’t out of the woods yet, as there is a real possibility of swelling on the brain.

He will need surgery and his MMA career could be over. Our thoughts are with Santos.

3. Brisbane Lions and the wooden spoon

Brisbane Lions coach Justin Leppitsch has a nervous week ahead of him as he prepares for a potentially career-ending clash with Essendon.

The Bombers were considered a lock for the wooden spoon in pre-season, considering they lost the bulk of their playing roster to drugs bans. They have been playing week in, week out with a gang of thrown-together misfits who have managed to win a single game.

The Lions, on the other hand, haven’t been plagued by ASADA sanctions. They are a fully fit team with no excuse at all to suck so much.

If Brisbane lose to the Bombers this week, it will be an all-time low for the club and Leppitsch’s tenure as coach will be over.

Bet365.com.au doesn’t like Brisbane’s chances, giving them $2.60 against Essendon’s $1.50

2. Halatau hangs up the boots

Wests Tigers vice-captain Dene Halatau has announced that 2016 will be his final year in the NRL.

Halatau started his career in 2003 with the Tigers before moving to the Canterbury Bulldogs and then finally returning to the Tigers. He has played 241 NRL games and 15 Tests for New Zealand.

We wish him the best for his future.

1. Super Rugby finals upon us

The 2016 Super Rugby finals are upon us!

Palmerbet.com.au has the playoffs lined up like so:

Brumbies ($2.22) vs Highlanders ($1.65)
Hurricanes ($1.22) vs Sharks ($4.50)
Lions ($1.78) vs Crusaders ($2.02)
Stormers ($2.02) vs Chiefs ($1.78)

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