Sports Blog

It was a very busy weekend full of fireworks all over the sports world.  We’ll start with tennis: Roger Federer and American Andy Roddick played one of the best matches in the history of Wimbledon.  Tied at 2 sets apiece going into the final set, both players played an epic 5th set that was the longest in Wimbledon history.  It was back and forth all the way until Federer finally got the win in the set 16-14.  With this win Federer became the greatest champion in tennis history as he passed Pete Sampras for first all-time Grand Slam victories at 15.  Even Pete, who was on hand to watch, had to give him props saying,” I have to give it to him. He’s won all the majors.  He’s won 15 now.  He’s going to win a few more here.  So in my book he is (the greatest).”  I would have to agree.  On the women’s side Serena made quick work of her sister Venus.  The win gave her three of the four major tournament wins this year.  Even with that she was still disappointed that she couldn’t win them all saying, “I’m really disappointed because I think this is the year I could have done it.  And I didn’t.”

In baseball, He’s BACK!!!!  Manny Ramirez returned to the Dodgers to a cores of both cheers and boos.  Though he was quiet for most of his at-bats, he did go deep in one bringing the crowd up to make noise.  It’s safe to say that its going to be a circus every time he comes up for the rest of the season, especially on the road.  Also the All-Star team rosters were announced on Sunday with the fans getting the starters right for the most part.  I don’t see how Josh Hamilton was an all-star this season, I’m sure fans voted for him based on his Homerun Derby performance last year.  Even he didn’t agree with the selection saying, “I don’t feel I personally deserve to go, but at the same time the fans voted me in so I’m more than happy about that.”  Overall that was the only questionable starter so that was good and it should be an excellent game.  Notably Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez, caught up in steroid stories, were not among the selected.  For more on the rosters go here.

In the NBA, free agents were on the move.  With Friday being the first day to meet with teams.  The biggest splash so far is by the Lakers as they picked up Ron Artest.  Some thing that both sides have wanted for a while.  This move and keeping Lamar Odom will make the Lakers a heavy favorite to repeat.  While gaining Artest they did have to part ways with a very key contributor Trevor Ariza.  Ariza’s agent tried to play hardball with the Lakers to get more money and it back fired.  He ended up taking the same deal with Rockets, trading places with Artest, that the Lakers offered to him.  I have a feeling he will be kicking himself for years after this.  Other free agents will be making their choices this week so keep watch.

Image Source: AP Photo

It was great to be a sports fan this weekend.  With the NBA and NHL Finals going on surrounded by many other great events and tons of baseball, one could have stayed home and watched sports all weekend. Let’s see what happened.  The amount of people doubting Tiger Woods would ever return to his great form, just got a little smaller on Sunday.

Tiger is back on form and his final round Sunday proved it.  Down after 3 rounds, Tiger came roaring back and found himself tied for the lead with two shots to go. It seemed like every shot was just perfectly placed and by this time I don’t think anyone though that anyone besides Tiger was winning this tournament.  And with two more clutch birdies on the final two holes, he did win.  It was just amazing and fun to watch.  Even the host of the tournament Jack Nicklaus was very impressed.  Saying that he expects Tiger to break his 18 career majors record, with his 15th coming in two weeks at the U.S. Open.  From what I saw on Sunday my moneys on Tiger too.

While Tiger was winning on the golf course another great player had a lot to prove on the tennis court.

Through Roger Federer’s greatness, he had still never won the French Open.  And with the much younger Rafael Nadal seemingly unbeatable on this surface, many wondered if he ever would win it.  But on Sunday he did it and in the process of winning the career Grand Slam, he also tied Pete Sampras at 14 Grand Slams.  Though he didn’t have to go through Nadal (was upset earlier in tournament) on this time, no one can take this victory away from him.   Even Sampras said that with this win it “solidifies his place in history as the greatest player that played the game.”   I agree with him for right now, but I believe that Nadal will pass him by the time he’s finished.  Federer also got a little scare from a fan running on the court and trying to put a hat on him.  It was funny but kind of scary that it took so long for the security to chase this guy away.

On the ice there’s been a pretty good series going on that probably no one is watching between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Detroit Red Wings.  And I don’t think the NHL or NBC cares by the way they have scheduled the games.

Who plays back to back games in the Finals?  Hockey I guess.  The series was just tied up by the Penguins before they got blasted by the Wings 5-0 on Saturday.  That win gave them a 3-2 series advantage but the next game is in Pittsburgh and the home team has won every game in this series.  I expect it to go 7 games with the Penguins winning at home.   Game 7 will be a toss up that can go either way.

In the NBA Finals the Magic had a lot to prove to all the people saying the series was over after the blow out in Game 1.

Both teams came out slow in the first half missing many shots and just playing sloppy.  But in the second half a very entertaining competitive game broke out.   In the closing seconds both teams had a chance get the win.  Kobe was blocked from behind on his attempted for the win and the Magic then called time out with less than a second.   The Magic drew up an excellent out of bounds play that got rookie Courtney Lee a wide open alley-oop lay up.  He missed it though sending the game to overtime where the Lakers pulled out the win.   This game was a lot more competitive than the first game and there should be more of the same as the series shifts to Orlando.  Game 3 is going to be big for both teams.  If the Lakers win we could be looking at a sweep.   If the Magic wins then this series will most likely make it back to LA.  We’ll see this week.