Leading Off
-What Quarterback threw 70 passes in a single game?
Free Throws
MLB
-It’s been a very boring past little while in baseball, with the exception of one thing. Last night, in interleague play, the Dodgers and the Angels were playing the 2nd game of their 3-game series. Then in the 5th inning, baseball history occurred. Matt Kemp hit a ground ball down the 1st base side, Jered Weaver bobbled it and Kemp was safe on the e-1. Matt Kemp then stole 2nd base, but the throw was high and Kemp advanced to 3rd. The next batter was Blake DeWitt. He hit the ball deep to right field, scoring Kemp on the sac fly. Jered Weaver and Jose Arredondo combined to pitch 3 more innings of no-hit ball to complete the no-hitter. The only problem is, the Angels never got a run! They became only the 5th Major League team since 1900 and the 1st since 1992 to lose, despite having a no-hitter. This also marks the 1st time a team has lost a combined no-hitter (when two or more pitchers pitch) and this is also the 1st time it has occurred in interleague play. This isn’t a legitimate no-hitter because they only pitched 8 innings instead of the required 9, but it’s still pretty crazy to think that this has only happened 8 times in Major League history. The only “legitimate” no-hitter loss occurred on April 23, 1964, when Ken Johnson of the Houston Colt 45’s (now the Astros) lost to the Cincinnati Reds 1-0. Pete Rose was the batter who scored.
-The only other semi-interesting news in baseball is in Minnesota, where the Twins went on a 10-0 run (now 10-1). They swept the Nationals, Padres and Diamondbacks during their run before losing to the Brewers yesterday, 5-1. Their streak, however, didn’t allow them to eclipse the White Sox, who still hold a 1.5 game lead over the Twins for the lead in the AL Central division.
NFL
-Marshawn Lynch, Running Back for the Buffalo Bills, had his drivers license revoked and was forced to pay a $100 fine, after he ran over a Canadian Woman, Kimberly, Shpeley on May 31st. First of all, the $100 fine is ridiculous. He probably has pencils that are worth at least that much. Fortunately the woman is ok and she only suffered a bruised hip and a cut on her thigh, but she could have been seriously injured or even killed. Lynch said that it was late at night, raining hard and he didn‘t know that he ran over anybody. Part of me wants to believe him, he hasn’t been involved in legal trouble as much as a Mike Vick or Pacman Jones, but to say that you didn’t know that you ran over somebody, I find that very hard to wrap my head around. I wasn’t there when the crash happened, so I’m not sure about where was hit and where she ended up, but I’m going to compare it to running over a stop sign, or any sign for that matter. When you run over it, you’ll know it. You won’t just say, “Well that was a big bump in the road.” Same thing with a person. You’ll realise if you hit somebody. Even when a big bug hits your windshield, you can hear it. So I’m sorry Mr. Lynch, but I don’t buy your excuse.
-“Ridiculous!” That’s what Roger Goodell thinks about paying rookies who haven’t even played a down large sums of money. Goodell used as an example the contract Jake Long recently received from the Miami Dolphins, a 5-year deal worth $57.75M. Doesn’t the commissioner have better things to worry about than rookie salaries. Something maybe like Spygate or Marshawn Lynch’s hit-and-run? If they can afford to sign him and still be under the cap I really don’t see what the big deal is. If the Dolphins run into salary cap problems down the road, then you can say I told you so. But, if a team wants to waste $11M per season on a center, than that’s their problem. Goodell needs to re-prioritize his schedule.
-Goodell seems to be doing a lot of running around lately. He has recently dismissed the idea that the Buffalo Bills will be shipped off to Toronto. Ok Roger, you keep telling us that while you add games in Toronto. 1 game this year a couple more the next and just keep slowly moving the team to Toronto. I would be willing to bet that in 10 years the Bills will be playing half of their games in Toronto. Goodell, you’re doing the right thing by reassuring Bills fans, but just don’t be surprised when their season ticket holders are burning down your house in 2018.
NHL
-The Tampa Bay Lightning made a big splash in the NHL waters when they acquired Gary Roberts and Ryan Malone from the Pittsburgh Penguins. This is a good move for the Lightning to acquire these two big names, but they keep skirting around their main need: A starting goalie! They haven’t had one since Nikolai Khabibulin bolted for the windy city. They acquired Mike Smith at the trade deadline, who is a good back-up, but doesn’t have the Skills to be a full time starter. Then they drafted Stamkos, signed Melrose and now acquired Roberts and Malone. All of the pieces are in place, except a starting goaltender. Maybe they’re going to test the free agent waters. Jose Theodore is slated to become a UFA this year and is expected to test the market. Personally I think Theodore would be a great fit in Tampa, but knowing the Lightning, they’ll be more likely to sign Wade Dubielewicz.
-Another day, another buyout. This time it’s the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have bought out the remainder of Andrew Raycroft’s contract. For those of you who don’t understand logic, this means they will go with Vesa Toskala as their starter. I enjoy watching the Leafs lose, so I’m glad they pulled this move. Toskala is the superior goalie, but would it have really hurt the Leafs to keep a goalie around, who has a .900 save pct.? Even as a back-up? Not to mention that Raycroft is a former Calder trophy winner who had a couple of bad years in Toronto. The Leafs might have to now promote Justin Pogge or Scott Clemmensen, both of them unproven at the NHL level. After this year it will have been 42 years since Toronto last hoisted Stanley. Yes, I’m counting.
ATP
It’s the traditional rest Sunday at Wimbledon today, so let’s recap the last week over in England. Sharapova’s out, I don’t care anymore.
UEFA
-Because I value my job, I decided to work instead of watching the Euro cup final. Fortunately, I have wonderful grandparents who taped the game for me and I watched it later in the evening. Obviously Spain won, because I had picked them earlier. Not 2-0, but it should’ve been. I couldn’t believe it when Marcos Senna missed that easy tap-in late in the game. But none of that was important, because in the 33rd minute, speedy Fernando Torres, chipped a beautiful shot over goalkeeper Jens Lehman. That was all that the Spaniards needed to win their first Euro cup since 1964. As I type this, there is 710 days, 19 hours, 44 minutes and 50 seconds left until the World Cup in South Africa. Let the countdown begin!
7th Inning Stretch
Nope…still nothing
Buzzer Beater
The Buzzer Beater award for June 29th goes to…Matt Kemp. I can almost guarantee that Kemp will be the only batter who wins this award without even registering a hit, but when you’re involved in history, you have to get some recognition. Kemp will always be remembered as that guy who scored against a no-hitter. Thanks to Jair Jurrjens for making it close, but Kemp takes the honours this time.
Tiger Woods - 1
Kevin Youkilis - 1
Jie Zheng - 1
Matt Kemp - 1
Next edition coming Tuesday, July 1st. Until then, have a good NHL UFA signing period.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
06/27/08
Leading Off
-The average life span of a Major League baseball is 7 pitches.
Free Throws
NBA
-For the 3rd straight blog, the National Basketball Association takes priority (maybe this should be telling me something). The lasted edition in the Kobe vs. Shaq saga has arrived. While doing some freestyle in a bar, Shaq called out Kobe, asking him how his (synonym for “bum”) tastes. Aside from the obvious choice words and general profane language, I see nothing wrong with what Shaq did. This is just an example of the biggest kid in the world acting like a kid. I found it pretty funny and that’s just what it was, funny. It wasn’t meant to be a serious shot a Kobe, rather just a little nudge to remind him he still hasn’t won a championship without him. On the other hand, Shaq deserved to have his “deputy sheriff” badge taken away. Obviously the Sheriff takes his job seriously and he didn’t think that Shaq’s actions were appropriate. That’s ok with me. Now what we have to wait for is to see if Kobe will respond. Hopefully he sees it as the joke that it is and doesn’t go overboard with his response. Maybe Kobe is working on his “comeback rap” as we speak. “Shaq, tell me how my 81-point game tastes!”
-The Gatorade-stained shirt of Doc Rivers has made a lot of people happy recently. At a local auction, the item sold for approximately $55, 000. The money raised will be donated to the Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation. This was a great idea by the Celtics. It’s not like Rivers is going to wear a Gatorade-stained shirt around town. If somebody has money floating around to buy a $55 000 shirt, than they should be donating money to charity. Next up for auction, Kevin Garnett’s left sock.
-With the first pick in the 2008 NBA draft, the Chicago Bulls select…Michael Beasley. If you heard those words, then you should have your head examined, because the Bulls in fact selected Derrick Rose from the Memphis Tigers. Rose said that he wants to be the MVP in his first year. Maybe a bit too lofty of a goal, but better to aim too high than too low.
-What a shocker. After Pat Riley said that he wasn’t too high on Michael Beasley, guess who the Heat picked? Michael Beasley! The Heat were obviously trying to build suspense and see if anyone would try and trade for the #2 pick. But, no one did, so the Heat will just have to settle for a player who led the NCAA in points-per-game with 26.2 and averaged 12.4 rebounds-per-game. He averaged a double-double playing 40-minute games!
PGA
-In a day and age where you can buy almost anything on eBay, it should surprise no one that you can buy an apple core there too. But not just any apple core, the apple core that Tiger Woods ate on the 16th hole during his playoff round with Rocco Mediate. This is an apple core that you can own for the low, low price of $700. I just have one question for whoever wins this bidding war that has now reached 53 bids. Are you insane? For one thing, It’s an apple core. Not even an entire apple. You can’t eat it, it is of no value except to gaze at before you go off to bed at night. What if it isn’t even Tiger’s apple? What if some dude on eBay is fleecing you out of what could possibly be $1000. I’m not sure, but I don’t think eBay has a very good return system. Let’s just assume this is the apple that Tiger ate. Here’s the thing. You’re going to have time to show a few people this prized possession, then do you know what’s going to happen? It’s going to get mouldy! Your precious apple is going to shrivel up and die. I have a suggestion to whoever buys this apple. Take a seed and plant a tree. In 10 years, when that tree grows, you can sell those apples on eBay and say, “This is the offspring of the apple Tiger Woods ate on the 16th hole at Torrey Pines, while playing Rocco Mediate in the playoff round.” You can call me crazy, but I’m not the one bidding for an expired fruit!
MLB
-You know it’s been a slow day in baseball when I start talking about maple bats. I was trying to avoid this whole situation, because it was so boring. But since I don’t want to talk about Shawn Chacon, ok maybe I do, Chacon you’re officially mentally unstable. Forrest Gump is a Mensa member compared to you. That’s all that needs to be said. Anyway, back to maple bats. They are extremely dangerous and need to be taken out just as fast as instant replay needs to be put in. Just Google, “problem with maple bats”, go to images, take your first hit and you will see how funny Twins fans are. You will also see the danger of maple bats. These things break faster than offensive linemen doing wind sprints. Besides, making maple bats takes maple trees (surprise, surprise), maple trees make maple syrup, so once you run out of maple trees, what are you going to put on your pancakes?
-Miracles do occur. There was proof of that Wednesday night when Barry Zito won a game. It sounds hard to believe at first, but you’re going to have to trust me on this one (or go to mlb.com and see for yourself). Barry Zito lowered his ERA to the almost unbelievable level of 5.91. Despite Zito’s heroic efforts, the San Francisco Giants still find themselves 6 games back in the easiest division in baseball. The Giants need Barry’s help, but his last name isn’t Zito!
ATP
-HA! HA! HA! That’s all I could think of when I heard that Novak Djokovic lost his 2nd round Wimbledon match to Marat Safin. I told you Novak, you don’t call out former Wimbledon winners until YOU win Wimbledon. Now you’re going to be known as that guy who shot off his mouth, but couldn’t back it up. Good luck explaining your early exit to the media.
-Noooooooooo! That’s all I could think of when I heard that Maria Sharapova lost her 2nd round Wimbledon match to Alla Kudryavtseva, who has unnecessarily extended this blog just from the use of her name. Any future reference of her name will be posted as AK.
-This is going to be the worst Wimbledon ever. #1 ranked Ana Ivanovic lost to #133 ranked Jie Zheng in her 3rd round match. Oh well at least I can still watch Andy Roddick. Wait, he’s out too!
WNBA
-So Candace Parker dunks twice in consecutive games and now she’s an American hero? Here’s the thing. Candace Parker is an amazing athlete. She’s the most dominant player in the WNBA. But, she’s also 6-4! If I was 6-4, I’d be throwing it down with the best of them. To say that it’s an amazing dunk just because she can reach up and touch the rim is absurd. It’s great publicity for the WNBA and publicity that they definitely deserve, but until I see a tomahawk from her, she’s just another gifted athlete.
NCAA
-The Fresno State Bulldogs won the 2008 College World Series, but it’s not the Cinderella story that you’ve been sold. I’m sure you’ve all heard this by now, because I get my info the slow way, but Fresno State actually won 2 more games during the regular season than Georgia. However, for some odd reason, that I can’t fully explain, Georgia was the 8th ranked seed in the nation and Fresno was only the 4th ranked seed in their region. Until somebody tells me that Fresno was ranked 7th or higher, I’ll continue to call this an upset. If you want to know who I was cheering for, it was the Bulldogs.
UEFA
-Hmm, who was that guy who correctly picked both of the teams who would appear in the Euro 2008 final? Oh right, that was me. I may have been off slightly with the scores and I may have picked the winners for the wrong reasons, but none of that is important as long as I guessed correctly. My pick for the final? Spain! It has to be Spain. They proved how much depth they have when they beat Russia 3-0, with all of the goals scored in the second half. None of those scorers were named David Villa either. Goals were scored by Xavi Hernández, David Silva and Daniel Güiza. Also Spain has only given up 3 goals in the tournament. Germany? 6. My prediction, Spain 2-0 Germany.
CFL
-Woo hoo! Down south they have to wait until August for the pigskins to start flying, but in Canada we get our football fix in June. Calgary took down the Lions 28-10. Burris passed for 274 yards. The Calgary defense got to the QB 3 times behind the line of scrimmage. Javier Glatt led the game with 8 tackles. Montreal (go Al’s) beat down the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 33-10. Tre Smith rushed for 73 yards, due in large part to his 75-yard touchdown run. Markeith Knowlton leads the league in tackles with 14. Anthony Calvillo moved up past Danny McManus on the all-time passing yards list. No picks in either game. If you don’t like the CFL just remember, we have bigger balls!
7th Inning Stretch
If you’ve made it this far, you read WAY too much…
Buzzer Beater
The buzzer beater award for June 27th is…Jie Zheng. I’m not at all happy about this. Sharapova and Ivanovic both out. Some dude named Novak lost too, but that’s unimportant. Ivanovic, you’re the #1 seed, how could you do this. Do you realize how much ratings will go down if you or Sharapova are not in the final. This is not at all good for women’s tennis. Marat Safin and AK made it close, but Zheng took down the top seed, so I reluctantly give her this award.
Tiger Woods - 1
Kevin Youkilis - 1
Jie Zheng - 1
Next edition coming Sunday, June 29th. Until then, have a good Wimbledon.
-The average life span of a Major League baseball is 7 pitches.
Free Throws
NBA
-For the 3rd straight blog, the National Basketball Association takes priority (maybe this should be telling me something). The lasted edition in the Kobe vs. Shaq saga has arrived. While doing some freestyle in a bar, Shaq called out Kobe, asking him how his (synonym for “bum”) tastes. Aside from the obvious choice words and general profane language, I see nothing wrong with what Shaq did. This is just an example of the biggest kid in the world acting like a kid. I found it pretty funny and that’s just what it was, funny. It wasn’t meant to be a serious shot a Kobe, rather just a little nudge to remind him he still hasn’t won a championship without him. On the other hand, Shaq deserved to have his “deputy sheriff” badge taken away. Obviously the Sheriff takes his job seriously and he didn’t think that Shaq’s actions were appropriate. That’s ok with me. Now what we have to wait for is to see if Kobe will respond. Hopefully he sees it as the joke that it is and doesn’t go overboard with his response. Maybe Kobe is working on his “comeback rap” as we speak. “Shaq, tell me how my 81-point game tastes!”
-The Gatorade-stained shirt of Doc Rivers has made a lot of people happy recently. At a local auction, the item sold for approximately $55, 000. The money raised will be donated to the Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation. This was a great idea by the Celtics. It’s not like Rivers is going to wear a Gatorade-stained shirt around town. If somebody has money floating around to buy a $55 000 shirt, than they should be donating money to charity. Next up for auction, Kevin Garnett’s left sock.
-With the first pick in the 2008 NBA draft, the Chicago Bulls select…Michael Beasley. If you heard those words, then you should have your head examined, because the Bulls in fact selected Derrick Rose from the Memphis Tigers. Rose said that he wants to be the MVP in his first year. Maybe a bit too lofty of a goal, but better to aim too high than too low.
-What a shocker. After Pat Riley said that he wasn’t too high on Michael Beasley, guess who the Heat picked? Michael Beasley! The Heat were obviously trying to build suspense and see if anyone would try and trade for the #2 pick. But, no one did, so the Heat will just have to settle for a player who led the NCAA in points-per-game with 26.2 and averaged 12.4 rebounds-per-game. He averaged a double-double playing 40-minute games!
PGA
-In a day and age where you can buy almost anything on eBay, it should surprise no one that you can buy an apple core there too. But not just any apple core, the apple core that Tiger Woods ate on the 16th hole during his playoff round with Rocco Mediate. This is an apple core that you can own for the low, low price of $700. I just have one question for whoever wins this bidding war that has now reached 53 bids. Are you insane? For one thing, It’s an apple core. Not even an entire apple. You can’t eat it, it is of no value except to gaze at before you go off to bed at night. What if it isn’t even Tiger’s apple? What if some dude on eBay is fleecing you out of what could possibly be $1000. I’m not sure, but I don’t think eBay has a very good return system. Let’s just assume this is the apple that Tiger ate. Here’s the thing. You’re going to have time to show a few people this prized possession, then do you know what’s going to happen? It’s going to get mouldy! Your precious apple is going to shrivel up and die. I have a suggestion to whoever buys this apple. Take a seed and plant a tree. In 10 years, when that tree grows, you can sell those apples on eBay and say, “This is the offspring of the apple Tiger Woods ate on the 16th hole at Torrey Pines, while playing Rocco Mediate in the playoff round.” You can call me crazy, but I’m not the one bidding for an expired fruit!
MLB
-You know it’s been a slow day in baseball when I start talking about maple bats. I was trying to avoid this whole situation, because it was so boring. But since I don’t want to talk about Shawn Chacon, ok maybe I do, Chacon you’re officially mentally unstable. Forrest Gump is a Mensa member compared to you. That’s all that needs to be said. Anyway, back to maple bats. They are extremely dangerous and need to be taken out just as fast as instant replay needs to be put in. Just Google, “problem with maple bats”, go to images, take your first hit and you will see how funny Twins fans are. You will also see the danger of maple bats. These things break faster than offensive linemen doing wind sprints. Besides, making maple bats takes maple trees (surprise, surprise), maple trees make maple syrup, so once you run out of maple trees, what are you going to put on your pancakes?
-Miracles do occur. There was proof of that Wednesday night when Barry Zito won a game. It sounds hard to believe at first, but you’re going to have to trust me on this one (or go to mlb.com and see for yourself). Barry Zito lowered his ERA to the almost unbelievable level of 5.91. Despite Zito’s heroic efforts, the San Francisco Giants still find themselves 6 games back in the easiest division in baseball. The Giants need Barry’s help, but his last name isn’t Zito!
ATP
-HA! HA! HA! That’s all I could think of when I heard that Novak Djokovic lost his 2nd round Wimbledon match to Marat Safin. I told you Novak, you don’t call out former Wimbledon winners until YOU win Wimbledon. Now you’re going to be known as that guy who shot off his mouth, but couldn’t back it up. Good luck explaining your early exit to the media.
-Noooooooooo! That’s all I could think of when I heard that Maria Sharapova lost her 2nd round Wimbledon match to Alla Kudryavtseva, who has unnecessarily extended this blog just from the use of her name. Any future reference of her name will be posted as AK.
-This is going to be the worst Wimbledon ever. #1 ranked Ana Ivanovic lost to #133 ranked Jie Zheng in her 3rd round match. Oh well at least I can still watch Andy Roddick. Wait, he’s out too!
WNBA
-So Candace Parker dunks twice in consecutive games and now she’s an American hero? Here’s the thing. Candace Parker is an amazing athlete. She’s the most dominant player in the WNBA. But, she’s also 6-4! If I was 6-4, I’d be throwing it down with the best of them. To say that it’s an amazing dunk just because she can reach up and touch the rim is absurd. It’s great publicity for the WNBA and publicity that they definitely deserve, but until I see a tomahawk from her, she’s just another gifted athlete.
NCAA
-The Fresno State Bulldogs won the 2008 College World Series, but it’s not the Cinderella story that you’ve been sold. I’m sure you’ve all heard this by now, because I get my info the slow way, but Fresno State actually won 2 more games during the regular season than Georgia. However, for some odd reason, that I can’t fully explain, Georgia was the 8th ranked seed in the nation and Fresno was only the 4th ranked seed in their region. Until somebody tells me that Fresno was ranked 7th or higher, I’ll continue to call this an upset. If you want to know who I was cheering for, it was the Bulldogs.
UEFA
-Hmm, who was that guy who correctly picked both of the teams who would appear in the Euro 2008 final? Oh right, that was me. I may have been off slightly with the scores and I may have picked the winners for the wrong reasons, but none of that is important as long as I guessed correctly. My pick for the final? Spain! It has to be Spain. They proved how much depth they have when they beat Russia 3-0, with all of the goals scored in the second half. None of those scorers were named David Villa either. Goals were scored by Xavi Hernández, David Silva and Daniel Güiza. Also Spain has only given up 3 goals in the tournament. Germany? 6. My prediction, Spain 2-0 Germany.
CFL
-Woo hoo! Down south they have to wait until August for the pigskins to start flying, but in Canada we get our football fix in June. Calgary took down the Lions 28-10. Burris passed for 274 yards. The Calgary defense got to the QB 3 times behind the line of scrimmage. Javier Glatt led the game with 8 tackles. Montreal (go Al’s) beat down the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 33-10. Tre Smith rushed for 73 yards, due in large part to his 75-yard touchdown run. Markeith Knowlton leads the league in tackles with 14. Anthony Calvillo moved up past Danny McManus on the all-time passing yards list. No picks in either game. If you don’t like the CFL just remember, we have bigger balls!
7th Inning Stretch
If you’ve made it this far, you read WAY too much…
Buzzer Beater
The buzzer beater award for June 27th is…Jie Zheng. I’m not at all happy about this. Sharapova and Ivanovic both out. Some dude named Novak lost too, but that’s unimportant. Ivanovic, you’re the #1 seed, how could you do this. Do you realize how much ratings will go down if you or Sharapova are not in the final. This is not at all good for women’s tennis. Marat Safin and AK made it close, but Zheng took down the top seed, so I reluctantly give her this award.
Tiger Woods - 1
Kevin Youkilis - 1
Jie Zheng - 1
Next edition coming Sunday, June 29th. Until then, have a good Wimbledon.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
06/24/08
Leading Off
-Answer to Friday’s trivia question: Bobby Orr wore number two when he played as a junior for the Oshawa Generals, but couldn’t wear the number for the Boston Bruins because it had already been retired by Eddie Shore.
-“If your work is not fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.”
-John Mazur
Free Throws
UEFA
-The semi-finals are set for Euro 2008 with Germany facing off against Turkey and Spain, after beating the defending World Cup champions 4-2 in penalty kicks, will match up against Russia.
-It’s about time for some predictions in this tournament so I have some. It’s been a great run for Turkey, but I think their run ends. The Germans have already knocked off the extremely talented Portuguese and have a legitimate striker in Lukas Podolski. The Germans have only allowed 4 goals in 4 games, while Turkey has allowed 6. It would take a great team effort, particularly from star midfielder Arda Turan, for Turkey to advance to the finals. A great performance that I don’t see happening, so I’m taking Germany with a 2-0 win over Turkey.
-I think the Russia vs. Spain game will be a closer game than everyone expects. Spain is no doubt the favourites after they routed the Russians 4-1 earlier in the tournament. Russia has since picked up their socks and won 3 straight, outscoring the opposition 6-1. The Russians have two multi-goal scorers, while the Spaniards only have one and that should figure into play in this game. I’m looking forward to a goal-filled affair in this one and expect Spain to take it 3-2.
NBA
-I don’t normally get into the NBA draft and I probably still won’t watch this one, although I’d be lying if I told you that I was not intrigued by the whole Beasley/Rose ordeal. http://www.dcprosportsreport.com/ has an interesting feature, where they have a list of all the different mock drafts across the web along with their top 5 picks. Yours truly had nothing better to do with his time than to count every single vote for either Derrick Rose or Michael Beasley. As it turns out, 79 of these “experts” had Rose slotted in the 1st spot, while 33 of them had Chicago taking Beasley. It seems really tough to bet against Rose in this spot. Beasley is one beast of a man at 6-8, 239 lbs., but the guard position has become extremely valuable in the NBA and with Rose being a hometown Chicago boy, you’d have to think the odds are in his favour. The Miami Heat will have no problems making their pick, as they will definitely go after the Bulls leftovers.
-The Men’s U.S. Olympic basketball team was recently announced and the winners are: Carmelo Anthony, Carlos Boozer, Chris Bosh, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, LeBron James, Jason Kidd, Chris Paul, Tayshaun Prince, Michael Redd, Dewayne Wade and Deron Williams. Since Canada is without a basketball team for the Olympics, I might as well root for our neighbours to the south. I’ll consider Chris Bosh at least a semi-Canadian and root for the U.S. for the first time in my life.
NHL
-ESPN will have to look for a new NHL correspondent, as Barry Melrose has left for greener pastures and sunny skies over in Florida. Barry Became the head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning today, after taking a 13-year absence from behind the reins of an NHL franchise. Melrose has since been ESPN’s top hockey analyst for the last 12 years, but said he couldn’t wait to say yes after he was approached for a job by the Lightning. It was obvious that Melrose wanted to get back into coaching and hopefully this this is just what Tampa ordered to get back into playoff contention.
-The Toronto Maple Leafs once again proved their stupidity, by trading up all the way to 5th spot to pick…Luke Schenn? Nothing personal against Schenn, he is a fantastic prospect and the best defensive defenseman available in the draft, but this pick leaves me with one question. What about Filatov?
-It sure feels great to be from Moncton, New Brunswick recently. Three players from my hometown of approximately 120 000 people, were drafted in this year. They are: Chet Pickard taken 18th overall by the Nashville Predators; Patrice Cormier, who is actually from Cap-Pelé (Tow-may-tow, tow-maa-tow), taken 54th overall by the New Jersey Devils and Kelsey Tessier taken 110th overall by the Colorado Avalanche.
-The Ottawa Senators have finally ridded themselves of the plague that is Ray Emery after they bought out the rest of his contract allowing him to become a UFA as of July 1st. This is a great move for Ottawa to finally get the “Ray Emery” taste out of their system. The Sens will now have to make a decision on what to do with current goaltending situation. They could either search the free agent market for a goaltender or promote up-and-comer Jeff Glass from Binghamton.
MLB
-I seem to be bad luck on the MLB managers. There has been three managers fired since the start of this blog. Willie Randolph of the Mets, John McLaren of the Mariners and now John Gibbons of the Blue Jays have all been given the shaft. Gibbons was replaced by former Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston. Welcome back Cito!
-We may have to hold off the “Should Curt Schilling be in Cooperstown” argument because Schilling’s doctor Fred Morgan announced that Curt could be throwing off the mound in January (they play baseball in January?) and that there was no permanent damage to his rotator cuff. It’s all Schilling’s decision now, but I think a comeback is in order.
NFL
-Don Imus, host of the WABC radio show, Imus un the morning, was caught with his foot lodged in his mouth. I was shocked to hear what Imus had to say about Dallas Cowboys CB “Pacman” Jones. If you haven't already heard it, you can listen to it here (www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLVupPtrmYA). This isn’t the first time Don Imus has been involved in controversy. He has been fired before for this kind of thing, but was somehow let back on the air. It is ignorance like this that makes me feel sorry for African-Americans. Hey Don, before you go off insulting other people’s race, why don’t you look at your own. What color is Roger Clemens? Mark McGwire? Jose Canseco? What color was Pete Rose when he gambled on Baseball? What color was Marty McSorley when he was charged with assault? How can somebody with as little knowledge about anything as you, be qualified to share your opinion with people over the radio. I never say that I want anybody to lose their job, so I’ll just say this: I hope that ABC makes the right move.
7th Inning Stretch
Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out to the crowd,
Buy me some peanuts and crackerjacks,
I don’t care if I ever go back,
‘Cause it’s root, root, root for the home team,
If they don’t win it’s a shame,
For it’s one, two, three strikes you’re out,
At the old ball game!
(Note to All-Stars Sports Blog: I’m DYING out here!)
Buzzer Beater
The Buzzer Beater award for Tuesday, June 24th goes to…Kevin Youkilis for his walk-off home run in the bottom of the 13th inning leading Boston to a 5-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. Once again it was a tough decision, especially with Mark Teixeira’s 3-homer game. I’ve also decided to all a list of former buzzer beater award winners, just for fun.
Tiger Woods - 1
Kevin Youkilis - 1
Next edition coming Friday, June 27th. Until then, have a good NBA draft.
-Answer to Friday’s trivia question: Bobby Orr wore number two when he played as a junior for the Oshawa Generals, but couldn’t wear the number for the Boston Bruins because it had already been retired by Eddie Shore.
-“If your work is not fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.”
-John Mazur
Free Throws
UEFA
-The semi-finals are set for Euro 2008 with Germany facing off against Turkey and Spain, after beating the defending World Cup champions 4-2 in penalty kicks, will match up against Russia.
-It’s about time for some predictions in this tournament so I have some. It’s been a great run for Turkey, but I think their run ends. The Germans have already knocked off the extremely talented Portuguese and have a legitimate striker in Lukas Podolski. The Germans have only allowed 4 goals in 4 games, while Turkey has allowed 6. It would take a great team effort, particularly from star midfielder Arda Turan, for Turkey to advance to the finals. A great performance that I don’t see happening, so I’m taking Germany with a 2-0 win over Turkey.
-I think the Russia vs. Spain game will be a closer game than everyone expects. Spain is no doubt the favourites after they routed the Russians 4-1 earlier in the tournament. Russia has since picked up their socks and won 3 straight, outscoring the opposition 6-1. The Russians have two multi-goal scorers, while the Spaniards only have one and that should figure into play in this game. I’m looking forward to a goal-filled affair in this one and expect Spain to take it 3-2.
NBA
-I don’t normally get into the NBA draft and I probably still won’t watch this one, although I’d be lying if I told you that I was not intrigued by the whole Beasley/Rose ordeal. http://www.dcprosportsreport.com/ has an interesting feature, where they have a list of all the different mock drafts across the web along with their top 5 picks. Yours truly had nothing better to do with his time than to count every single vote for either Derrick Rose or Michael Beasley. As it turns out, 79 of these “experts” had Rose slotted in the 1st spot, while 33 of them had Chicago taking Beasley. It seems really tough to bet against Rose in this spot. Beasley is one beast of a man at 6-8, 239 lbs., but the guard position has become extremely valuable in the NBA and with Rose being a hometown Chicago boy, you’d have to think the odds are in his favour. The Miami Heat will have no problems making their pick, as they will definitely go after the Bulls leftovers.
-The Men’s U.S. Olympic basketball team was recently announced and the winners are: Carmelo Anthony, Carlos Boozer, Chris Bosh, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, LeBron James, Jason Kidd, Chris Paul, Tayshaun Prince, Michael Redd, Dewayne Wade and Deron Williams. Since Canada is without a basketball team for the Olympics, I might as well root for our neighbours to the south. I’ll consider Chris Bosh at least a semi-Canadian and root for the U.S. for the first time in my life.
NHL
-ESPN will have to look for a new NHL correspondent, as Barry Melrose has left for greener pastures and sunny skies over in Florida. Barry Became the head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning today, after taking a 13-year absence from behind the reins of an NHL franchise. Melrose has since been ESPN’s top hockey analyst for the last 12 years, but said he couldn’t wait to say yes after he was approached for a job by the Lightning. It was obvious that Melrose wanted to get back into coaching and hopefully this this is just what Tampa ordered to get back into playoff contention.
-The Toronto Maple Leafs once again proved their stupidity, by trading up all the way to 5th spot to pick…Luke Schenn? Nothing personal against Schenn, he is a fantastic prospect and the best defensive defenseman available in the draft, but this pick leaves me with one question. What about Filatov?
-It sure feels great to be from Moncton, New Brunswick recently. Three players from my hometown of approximately 120 000 people, were drafted in this year. They are: Chet Pickard taken 18th overall by the Nashville Predators; Patrice Cormier, who is actually from Cap-Pelé (Tow-may-tow, tow-maa-tow), taken 54th overall by the New Jersey Devils and Kelsey Tessier taken 110th overall by the Colorado Avalanche.
-The Ottawa Senators have finally ridded themselves of the plague that is Ray Emery after they bought out the rest of his contract allowing him to become a UFA as of July 1st. This is a great move for Ottawa to finally get the “Ray Emery” taste out of their system. The Sens will now have to make a decision on what to do with current goaltending situation. They could either search the free agent market for a goaltender or promote up-and-comer Jeff Glass from Binghamton.
MLB
-I seem to be bad luck on the MLB managers. There has been three managers fired since the start of this blog. Willie Randolph of the Mets, John McLaren of the Mariners and now John Gibbons of the Blue Jays have all been given the shaft. Gibbons was replaced by former Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston. Welcome back Cito!
-We may have to hold off the “Should Curt Schilling be in Cooperstown” argument because Schilling’s doctor Fred Morgan announced that Curt could be throwing off the mound in January (they play baseball in January?) and that there was no permanent damage to his rotator cuff. It’s all Schilling’s decision now, but I think a comeback is in order.
NFL
-Don Imus, host of the WABC radio show, Imus un the morning, was caught with his foot lodged in his mouth. I was shocked to hear what Imus had to say about Dallas Cowboys CB “Pacman” Jones. If you haven't already heard it, you can listen to it here (www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLVupPtrmYA). This isn’t the first time Don Imus has been involved in controversy. He has been fired before for this kind of thing, but was somehow let back on the air. It is ignorance like this that makes me feel sorry for African-Americans. Hey Don, before you go off insulting other people’s race, why don’t you look at your own. What color is Roger Clemens? Mark McGwire? Jose Canseco? What color was Pete Rose when he gambled on Baseball? What color was Marty McSorley when he was charged with assault? How can somebody with as little knowledge about anything as you, be qualified to share your opinion with people over the radio. I never say that I want anybody to lose their job, so I’ll just say this: I hope that ABC makes the right move.
7th Inning Stretch
Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out to the crowd,
Buy me some peanuts and crackerjacks,
I don’t care if I ever go back,
‘Cause it’s root, root, root for the home team,
If they don’t win it’s a shame,
For it’s one, two, three strikes you’re out,
At the old ball game!
(Note to All-Stars Sports Blog: I’m DYING out here!)
Buzzer Beater
The Buzzer Beater award for Tuesday, June 24th goes to…Kevin Youkilis for his walk-off home run in the bottom of the 13th inning leading Boston to a 5-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. Once again it was a tough decision, especially with Mark Teixeira’s 3-homer game. I’ve also decided to all a list of former buzzer beater award winners, just for fun.
Tiger Woods - 1
Kevin Youkilis - 1
Next edition coming Friday, June 27th. Until then, have a good NBA draft.
Friday, June 20, 2008
06/20/08
Due to circumstances beyond my control, I was forced to post this blog today, Instead of on the 21st.
Hello sports fans,
Welcome to my new blog, The Sports Epidemic. This blog is composed of four parts which I will thoroughly explain during this edition. Hopefully, unless prevented, I will make a blog post on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. I will also be working on some special editions which I will post once completed. So without further delay, I present you my blog!
Leading Off
(I’ll start off each blog with something interesting and fun. Either a sports trivia question, a sports quote or a sports fact. Today I’ll start out with a trivia question.)
When Bobby Orr played Junior, what number did he wear and why couldn't he wear that number when he advanced to the pros?
Free Throws
(This is the part where I broadcast my opinion of the last few days in sports. Whether it be expressing my extreme excitement or venting my frustration, you’ll get it all here.)
NBA
-The NBA steals the headlines for this edition. The newly crowned Celtics defeated the Lakers Tuesday night in the 6th game of a best-of-seven series. I’m not sure what the point spread was, but I don’t think anyone expected a 131-92 victory! Garnett and Allen led the way with 26 points apiece, while Pierce chipped in with 17. I’m admittedly not a big basketball fan and must admit that when CP3 and CB4 were eliminated, I lost a lot of interest in the NBA playoffs. But I was secretly cheering for the Celtics to take it home, if for no other reason than to see Garnett, Allen and Pierce get their first championship. That and I’m really tired of hearing about Kobe and the Lakers. It will do Phil Jackson some good to lose once in a while. So in short, enjoy the championship Boston, because it will never last long enough!
-Why is everyone blaming Kobe for the loss. The man can’t do it on his own. Teams, not players, win championships. Kobe put up 22 points in the final game. That’s more than Gasol and Fisher combined! Yet I don’t see anyone blaming Pau for the loss. Let’s try this, The Los Angeles Lakers, not Kobe Bryant, lost the 2008 NBA championship.
PGA
-A short congratulations to Tiger woods for winning the U.S. Open this past week at Torrey Pines. It took you 91 holes to finally take down Mediate, but you did it and deserve all the credit on winning your 14th major.
-What a gutsy performance by Rocco Mediate. He’s ranked 153rd on the money list, he has won five, that’s right FIVE PGA tournaments, none of them majors, yet he went toe-to-toe with possibly the most dominant athlete in the sports world right now. I can only say that I hope this isn’t his last chance at a major and I’m officially the newest member of the Rocco Mediate fan club (if there is such a thing).
-But now to focus on the real story, Tiger’s injury. Everybody had their doubts about it. Mike Milbury referred to him as “Tiger Wuss” (which was more of a response to Tiger’s comments about hockey than anything). Retief Goosen showed us all how classy he is by saying that he thought Tiger was faking his injury. Well Mr. Goosen, that puts you around…Rory Sabbatini on the coward scale. If you have a bone to pick with Tiger, settle it like a NASCAR driver. Go up to him and tell him (hey it works for Danica Patrick). Don’t hide behind the blanket that is the media. But I’ve gotten off topic (something you better get used to). Anyway, back to Tiger’s injury. I must admit Tiger was never my favourite golfer and insulting my favourite sport didn’t help his case either, but there is no doubt left in my mind that Tiger is the most mentally and physically tough golfer to ever play the game. He knew he was injured and he knew that he wasn’t going to do himself any good by participating in this event. He also knew that he wasn’t going to let a major championship pass by if he had anything to do with it. He played and he won, damaging his ACL in the process. Some call it crazy, some call it stupid, I call it incredible.
MLB
-Excuse me for digging into the past a little bit, but there has been a lot of news lately and I want to cover it all. I’m sure everyone knows that Willie Randolph was let go from the Mets on Tuesday. But first of all, Randolph deserved to be fired. He couldn’t bring together an underachieving team that had the 3rd-highest payroll in the league, so he deserved to go. What I don’t agree with is how the situation went down. The Mets GM Omar Minaya didn’t want to fire Randolph at home in New York, because that would just be too easy. Instead he decided to wait for the team to fly all the was across the country for a series against the Los Angeles Angels that are actually from Anaheim. The Metropolitans won the first game 9-6, then Minaya flew in all the way from New York to not only fire Randolph, but also Pitching coach Rick Peterson and First Base coach Tom Nieto. Good job killing three birds with one stone, or should I say, plane ride? If you really wanted to fire him, would it take so much effort to wait until he got back to New York. Maybe it’s this kind of controversy that is keeping the Mets from performing to their potential. Did you think of that, Omar? Who did Omar decide to get as Randolph’s replacement? None other than Jerry “The Gangster” Manuel, who said that the next time Jose Reyes threw his helmet that he was going to cut him. Just because he’s gangster like that. Good move Omar, good move.
-In other managerial firings, the Mariners parted ways with John McLaren, after he led the team to a league-worst 25-47 record. League-worst record = Low job security. It had to happen sooner or later.
-Chien-Ming Wang pulled up lame while running the basepaths and will be out until at least September. Yankees owner Hank Steinbrenner took the blame-everybody-but-myself routine and took out his anger on the National League. Hank said and I quote, “The National League needs to join the 21st century. They need to grow up and join the 21st century.” Hank also mentioned that the rule of pitchers hitting was a rule from the 1800’s. Well Hank, do you know what else was a rule from the 1800’s? Running the bases!!! I must admit that I enjoy listening to Hank, mostly because he thinks having a pool full of money makes him intelligent and invincible. Well guess what Hank, injuries happen. Your money might buy him better doctors, but it’s not going to make him rehab any faster. Your star pitcher is out until September and there’s nothing you can do about it.
-I don’t like the Yankees and I don’t like recognizing their achievements, so I’ll make this brief. The Yanks have one seven straight games (as of June 20th), which is worthy of a mention on this blog even if it is the Yankees. They’ve vaulted all the way to 3rd in the AL east leaving the woeful Blue Jays in the basement of the division.
ATP
-Wimbledon kicks off Sunday. Roger Federer drew Dominik Hrbaty for his first match, #2 ranked Rafael Nadal drew Andreas Beck and the #3 seed Novak Djokovic drew Michael Berrer. I’m going to take a wild guess and say that Federer, Nadal and Djokovic will all win. I know it’s a risk, but I feel very confident with my decision.
-Novac Djokovic is staring down Roger Federer, saying, “I think he’s a little bit shaken with that loss to Nadal and mentally he’s been struggling the last couple of months. New manes are coming; Fresh, talented players who believe more they can win against him and I am one of them.” Well, I consider myself to be neither an optimist, nor a pessimist, but rather a realist. The stats tell me that Federer has won 5 straight Wimbledon championships, a feat that has only been matched by the great Bjorn Borg. How many Wimbledons have you won Novak? That’s right, none! Once you win Wimbledon, then and only then can you call out former winners. In case you were wondering, I’m taking Federer to win his 6th straight Wimbledon. Better luck next time Djokovic!
UEFA
-Euro 2008 is starting to take shape with Germany already advancing to the semi-finals with a win over Portugal 3-2. Other quarter-final match-ups are Turkey vs. Croatia, Russia vs. the Netherlands and Spain vs. Italy. The defending World Cup champion Italians will have a tough time containing Spaniard David Villa, who leads the tournament in scoring, with four tallies so far.
-I’m a sucker for cool stats, so I had to include this. There has been 16 goals scored between minutes 61 and 75, which is the most of any 14-minute span. The next closest is 16 to 30 minutes with 10 goals being scored during this period.
NHL
-The NHL takes a back seat in this blog, but still gets a mention because of the draft coming up tonight. Everyone knows Stamkos will be taken 1st overall, Bogosian and Doughty will be 2nd and 3rd and Filatov will drop. But who will be this years’ dark horses or diamonds in the rough (whichever you prefer). I’ve taken a look at some of the prospects who aren’t ranked in the top 30, but could very well find them selves taken in the 1st round. Remember these names! Tyler Ennis, Mikhail Stefanovich, A.J. Jenks, Daulton Leveille, Corey Trivino, Kruise Reddick, Mark Barberio (yeah, I’m a homer, deal with it!) and Kelsey Tessier. All of these players have great skill and anyone of then has a legitimate chance of hearing their name called tonight.
7th Inning Stretch
(Written by the fine people at the All-Stars Sports Blog)
***Free Advertising Space***
Buzzer Beater
(This distinguished award goes to the best performer of the past few days.)
The buzzer beater award for June 20th goes to…Tiger Woods. Okay, so maybe it happened way back on Monday and maybe if Bush had of completed his no-no than he would’ve won it. But winning the U.S. Open is hard enough to do when you’re healthy, let alone on a broken leg. So congratulations Tiger on winning the inaugural buzzer beater award.
Next edition coming Tuesday June 24th. Until then, have a good NHL draft!
Hello sports fans,
Welcome to my new blog, The Sports Epidemic. This blog is composed of four parts which I will thoroughly explain during this edition. Hopefully, unless prevented, I will make a blog post on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. I will also be working on some special editions which I will post once completed. So without further delay, I present you my blog!
Leading Off
(I’ll start off each blog with something interesting and fun. Either a sports trivia question, a sports quote or a sports fact. Today I’ll start out with a trivia question.)
When Bobby Orr played Junior, what number did he wear and why couldn't he wear that number when he advanced to the pros?
Free Throws
(This is the part where I broadcast my opinion of the last few days in sports. Whether it be expressing my extreme excitement or venting my frustration, you’ll get it all here.)
NBA
-The NBA steals the headlines for this edition. The newly crowned Celtics defeated the Lakers Tuesday night in the 6th game of a best-of-seven series. I’m not sure what the point spread was, but I don’t think anyone expected a 131-92 victory! Garnett and Allen led the way with 26 points apiece, while Pierce chipped in with 17. I’m admittedly not a big basketball fan and must admit that when CP3 and CB4 were eliminated, I lost a lot of interest in the NBA playoffs. But I was secretly cheering for the Celtics to take it home, if for no other reason than to see Garnett, Allen and Pierce get their first championship. That and I’m really tired of hearing about Kobe and the Lakers. It will do Phil Jackson some good to lose once in a while. So in short, enjoy the championship Boston, because it will never last long enough!
-Why is everyone blaming Kobe for the loss. The man can’t do it on his own. Teams, not players, win championships. Kobe put up 22 points in the final game. That’s more than Gasol and Fisher combined! Yet I don’t see anyone blaming Pau for the loss. Let’s try this, The Los Angeles Lakers, not Kobe Bryant, lost the 2008 NBA championship.
PGA
-A short congratulations to Tiger woods for winning the U.S. Open this past week at Torrey Pines. It took you 91 holes to finally take down Mediate, but you did it and deserve all the credit on winning your 14th major.
-What a gutsy performance by Rocco Mediate. He’s ranked 153rd on the money list, he has won five, that’s right FIVE PGA tournaments, none of them majors, yet he went toe-to-toe with possibly the most dominant athlete in the sports world right now. I can only say that I hope this isn’t his last chance at a major and I’m officially the newest member of the Rocco Mediate fan club (if there is such a thing).
-But now to focus on the real story, Tiger’s injury. Everybody had their doubts about it. Mike Milbury referred to him as “Tiger Wuss” (which was more of a response to Tiger’s comments about hockey than anything). Retief Goosen showed us all how classy he is by saying that he thought Tiger was faking his injury. Well Mr. Goosen, that puts you around…Rory Sabbatini on the coward scale. If you have a bone to pick with Tiger, settle it like a NASCAR driver. Go up to him and tell him (hey it works for Danica Patrick). Don’t hide behind the blanket that is the media. But I’ve gotten off topic (something you better get used to). Anyway, back to Tiger’s injury. I must admit Tiger was never my favourite golfer and insulting my favourite sport didn’t help his case either, but there is no doubt left in my mind that Tiger is the most mentally and physically tough golfer to ever play the game. He knew he was injured and he knew that he wasn’t going to do himself any good by participating in this event. He also knew that he wasn’t going to let a major championship pass by if he had anything to do with it. He played and he won, damaging his ACL in the process. Some call it crazy, some call it stupid, I call it incredible.
MLB
-Excuse me for digging into the past a little bit, but there has been a lot of news lately and I want to cover it all. I’m sure everyone knows that Willie Randolph was let go from the Mets on Tuesday. But first of all, Randolph deserved to be fired. He couldn’t bring together an underachieving team that had the 3rd-highest payroll in the league, so he deserved to go. What I don’t agree with is how the situation went down. The Mets GM Omar Minaya didn’t want to fire Randolph at home in New York, because that would just be too easy. Instead he decided to wait for the team to fly all the was across the country for a series against the Los Angeles Angels that are actually from Anaheim. The Metropolitans won the first game 9-6, then Minaya flew in all the way from New York to not only fire Randolph, but also Pitching coach Rick Peterson and First Base coach Tom Nieto. Good job killing three birds with one stone, or should I say, plane ride? If you really wanted to fire him, would it take so much effort to wait until he got back to New York. Maybe it’s this kind of controversy that is keeping the Mets from performing to their potential. Did you think of that, Omar? Who did Omar decide to get as Randolph’s replacement? None other than Jerry “The Gangster” Manuel, who said that the next time Jose Reyes threw his helmet that he was going to cut him. Just because he’s gangster like that. Good move Omar, good move.
-In other managerial firings, the Mariners parted ways with John McLaren, after he led the team to a league-worst 25-47 record. League-worst record = Low job security. It had to happen sooner or later.
-Chien-Ming Wang pulled up lame while running the basepaths and will be out until at least September. Yankees owner Hank Steinbrenner took the blame-everybody-but-myself routine and took out his anger on the National League. Hank said and I quote, “The National League needs to join the 21st century. They need to grow up and join the 21st century.” Hank also mentioned that the rule of pitchers hitting was a rule from the 1800’s. Well Hank, do you know what else was a rule from the 1800’s? Running the bases!!! I must admit that I enjoy listening to Hank, mostly because he thinks having a pool full of money makes him intelligent and invincible. Well guess what Hank, injuries happen. Your money might buy him better doctors, but it’s not going to make him rehab any faster. Your star pitcher is out until September and there’s nothing you can do about it.
-I don’t like the Yankees and I don’t like recognizing their achievements, so I’ll make this brief. The Yanks have one seven straight games (as of June 20th), which is worthy of a mention on this blog even if it is the Yankees. They’ve vaulted all the way to 3rd in the AL east leaving the woeful Blue Jays in the basement of the division.
ATP
-Wimbledon kicks off Sunday. Roger Federer drew Dominik Hrbaty for his first match, #2 ranked Rafael Nadal drew Andreas Beck and the #3 seed Novak Djokovic drew Michael Berrer. I’m going to take a wild guess and say that Federer, Nadal and Djokovic will all win. I know it’s a risk, but I feel very confident with my decision.
-Novac Djokovic is staring down Roger Federer, saying, “I think he’s a little bit shaken with that loss to Nadal and mentally he’s been struggling the last couple of months. New manes are coming; Fresh, talented players who believe more they can win against him and I am one of them.” Well, I consider myself to be neither an optimist, nor a pessimist, but rather a realist. The stats tell me that Federer has won 5 straight Wimbledon championships, a feat that has only been matched by the great Bjorn Borg. How many Wimbledons have you won Novak? That’s right, none! Once you win Wimbledon, then and only then can you call out former winners. In case you were wondering, I’m taking Federer to win his 6th straight Wimbledon. Better luck next time Djokovic!
UEFA
-Euro 2008 is starting to take shape with Germany already advancing to the semi-finals with a win over Portugal 3-2. Other quarter-final match-ups are Turkey vs. Croatia, Russia vs. the Netherlands and Spain vs. Italy. The defending World Cup champion Italians will have a tough time containing Spaniard David Villa, who leads the tournament in scoring, with four tallies so far.
-I’m a sucker for cool stats, so I had to include this. There has been 16 goals scored between minutes 61 and 75, which is the most of any 14-minute span. The next closest is 16 to 30 minutes with 10 goals being scored during this period.
NHL
-The NHL takes a back seat in this blog, but still gets a mention because of the draft coming up tonight. Everyone knows Stamkos will be taken 1st overall, Bogosian and Doughty will be 2nd and 3rd and Filatov will drop. But who will be this years’ dark horses or diamonds in the rough (whichever you prefer). I’ve taken a look at some of the prospects who aren’t ranked in the top 30, but could very well find them selves taken in the 1st round. Remember these names! Tyler Ennis, Mikhail Stefanovich, A.J. Jenks, Daulton Leveille, Corey Trivino, Kruise Reddick, Mark Barberio (yeah, I’m a homer, deal with it!) and Kelsey Tessier. All of these players have great skill and anyone of then has a legitimate chance of hearing their name called tonight.
7th Inning Stretch
(Written by the fine people at the All-Stars Sports Blog)
***Free Advertising Space***
Buzzer Beater
(This distinguished award goes to the best performer of the past few days.)
The buzzer beater award for June 20th goes to…Tiger Woods. Okay, so maybe it happened way back on Monday and maybe if Bush had of completed his no-no than he would’ve won it. But winning the U.S. Open is hard enough to do when you’re healthy, let alone on a broken leg. So congratulations Tiger on winning the inaugural buzzer beater award.
Next edition coming Tuesday June 24th. Until then, have a good NHL draft!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
My Sports Blog
Hello Sports fans, this is my new sports blog. I won't be posting on this site until exactly June 21st (my birthday). My buddy will be helping me out with this blog. He has his own blog entitled All-Stars Sports Blog. Hopefully I'll be able to dish one of these out 3 times a week. I appreciate any comments you have for me, even if you just want to tell me that I have no idea what I'm talking about. So until June 21st, have a good Euro Cup!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
