Thursday Links – Chris Henry Passes Away, Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay Traded, & Charlie V’s Big Year

I’m finally done with exams (until Tuesday at least), so we’re back to your regularly-scheduled D4L links you know and love.

• UPDATE: Henry passed away this morning. Thoughts and prayers to the Henry family and the Cincinnati Bengals. -Rob  Bengals WR Chris Henry is in serious condition after falling out of a pickup truck yesterday. Reports are speculating that he was in a dispute with his fiancee during the accident. I’ve never been a fan of Henry because of his actions off the field, but this is truly a sad story and we hope Henry makes a speedy recovery.

• This cracked me up. Apparently New York Islanders defenseman Brendan Witt declined a ride to practice from the team’s medical staff before being hit by a car. Witt was fine; he got up, said “I’m a hockey player” (seriously), and played in the Islanders’ game later that day. There was no police report filed, but I’m pretty sure Crazy Eyes was driving. [via Red Wings Corner]

• There’s a reason why I link A2Y almost every day. Posts like this are it. The Chief spits some serious venom at Buddha of Hockey Wilderness. As a regular reader of A2Y, that post made my morning yesterday (even knowing I was facing two firing squads exams later). As always, the comments are just as (if not more) entertaining than the post itself.

• It’s official: the second blockbuster deal of the baseball offseason has been completed. Cliff Lee will be shipped off to Seattle, while Roy Halladay will no longer a thorn in the Tigers’ side as a part of the Philadelphia Phillies’ rotation. Lee and “King Felix” Hernandez will quickly become the best one-two punch in baseball, especially in spacious Safeco Field. Big League Stew has all the details on what went down. ESPN writer Jayson Stark gives his take here.

• Detroit Bad Boys has done some research and figured out that Charlie Villanueva is currently having a season for the ages. I always recommend taking statistics with a grain of salt, since you can basically make stats say whatever you want. However, Charlie V is passing the eyeball test with flying colors this year. If he continues to put up close to these types of numbers, his multi-year deal will be considered one of the best bargains in the league.

• Continuing with their recent football head injury theme, Deadspin looks at political talk show host Glenn Beck’s recent rant on football headgear. Beck definitely isn’t the first guy to argue that less protection will lead to fewer injuries, but it’s always a bit more shocking to hear it from someone in a different field.

• Going along with the political theme, one of my good friends records his own political podcast, called Clarkcast. He’s delved into the recent Tiger Woods issue, so not everything is Congress and health care on his site. Be sure to check it out. Everything is free, and you can download the shows on iTunes.

Rob’s Highlight of the Day

Apparently the NBA has a sense of humor. In this clip, LeBron James steals the ball and scores on the fast break, then scores himself some french fries from a fan in the front row. I’m not a fan of LeBron’s river dancing, but this was funny and it probably was worth way more to that fan than the $5 he spent on the fries (or the $100+ spent on that ticket). LeBron: stop the dancing, but keep this up. In other news, Mark Sanchez wonders what the big deal is. [via Ball Don’t Lie]