Sports Blog

It might go down as the biggest upset in golf history. It is something that is just not supposed to happen, especially to Tiger Woods. Tiger was 14-0 when leading after the third round in majors and after leading the first three rounds in this major it seemed like the Championship was his. Then stepped in Y.E. Yang, who seemed not at all in awe of the moment or the fact that he was playing the world’s greatest player. Playing head-to-head Yang out shot Woods by five strokes on the day to turn a two stroke deficit to a three stroke win. It was pretty crazy to watch and I thought Tiger was going to be a for sure winner, but it just didn’t happen. With the loss Tiger goes 0-4 in majors this year, he won a lot of other tournaments this year, but I have a feeling that he will come out of the year disappointed. I mean it’s Tiger Woods.  He bases his game on majors not just total wins. But there is no need to feel sorry for Tiger because he’ll be back. After all this was his first season back from his knee injury. For Y.E. Yang it’s a big win and a dream come true. You always have to be happy for the underdog who wins against all odds.

In track and field, the World Championships were going on in Berlin. All eyes where on the Men’s 100 where raining “Fastest Man in the World” Usain Bolt was looking to defend his title and possibly break his record. This time though he would have to go through American champ Tyson Gay, who did not make it to the final in Beijing. This would be the first time that the two go at it and Gay said that he was primed to come out with the win. The hype for the race was as big as any and both racers where waiting at the start with their contrasting pre-race styles. Tyson was very serious and focused on the race at hand. Bolt on the other hand was carefree and joking around with the crowd and other competitors, a style that everyone has been used to since Beijing. It was then time for the race and it didn’t disappoint. Bolt flew to a world record of 9.58 making everyone else look slow including Gay who ran an American record and third fastest time ever of 9.71. Bolt is just in a totally different class from everyone else after slashing .11 from his world record time and I don’t see any one taking his crown anytime soon. After all he’s only 23-years-old. Next up for him is the 200 where he will again face Gay and try to take his World Championship title.

Image Source: Getty Images

Football is finally here as the preseason kicked off with TO’s new team, Buffalo Billls, took on the Tennessee Titans. The starters didn’t play very long, but for what they did play they looked pretty good. LenDale White looked especially good, as he came into camp a lot lighter for the season. I think with him and Chris Johnson the Titans are going to have a very potent running game this season. TO also had a few catches in his debut for Buffalo. Its going to be a fun season to watch and I’m just glad that its finally here.

In golf, Tiger Woods was back at it again at the Bridgestone Invitational, dominating the field for his 70th career win. This was his 16th win in 30 World Golf Championship events for Woods and his 5th win this season. All is good for Woods but I have a feeling that he will be very disappointed if he doesn’t get a major win this season, 0-3 this season. He will get his chance this week at the PGA Championship at Hazeltine in Chaska, Minn. I think that Woods will finally get his major win there, although I have said that going into every major this season because of him winning a tournament a week before each. The pressure will be on Woods, but I have a feeling that he can handle it. We will see if he breaks through this week.

In UFC 101, Anderson Silva proved he is one of the best by dominating and even embarrassing former light heavyweight champ Forrest Griffin. Silva was so confident in his skills that he even dropped his hands in front of Forrest then knocked him out as he lunged to hit him. Forrest was so embarrassed by this domination that he ran out the ring and into the locker room after the ref ended the fight. The only question is, who can beat this guy? After Saturday’s performance I’m not sure anyone can right now. I’ll be very interested to see who he will fight next, after Dan Henderson who is already his next fight. I think he is going to stay at light heavyweight so there is plenty of talent there to fight. B.J. Penn also looked good in his fight choking out Kenny Florian.

Image Source: Getty Images, Sherdog.com

It was an interesting weekend for sports.  The marquee event the U.S. Open had rain and bad weather all weekend so it needed to end today.  Tune in if you can as big names like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are still lurking for the win.  It has been a surprising tournament so far as two unknown players (Lucas Glover and Ricky Barnes) have been pacing the field.  The first two rounds they were playing unbelievably well, but they started to fade back toward the field in the 3rd round leaving an opening for others to win on the final round Monday.  I would say that its all up in the air right now and the player that shoots best today will win the U.S. Open.

In soccer, Team U.S.A. pulled off one of the most improbable runs to the Semifinals in the Confederations Cup with help from Brazil. Needing just about a miracle to happen, it just did.  The only way the U.S. could advance to the next round after losing the first two games to Italy and Brazil was with a win over Egypt and an Italy lose to Brazil.  Not only that they needed to make up the 6 goal differential tie-breaker.  Brazil did their part beating the Italians 3-0 giving way for the U.S. to advance if they won 3-0 also.  And they did, playing their best game of the tournament.  It was very exciting to watch as both games were going on simultaneously, but you could tell that the players on each field knew the score on the other.  When the U.S. game went final there was pure jubilation amongst the players as they knew they pulled off the improbable.  They’ll take on number one in world Spain on Wednesday in the semis.  It will be a very tough game and I don’t see the U.S. advancing, but we will see.  In the other semifinal Brazil will take on the host South Africa.

In baseball, the College World Series has its two final teams as LSU will take on Texas in the Final series.  It will be a good match up between two college baseball powers.  Keep an eye on it during the week.  In the MLB, there were some good inter-league series with my personal favorite, the Freeway Series between the Angels and Dodgers.  The series concluded on Sunday night with the Dodgers pulling the 5-3 victory and World Champion Kobe Bryant was in attendance enjoying the game.

Image Source: Getty

Monday was a very slow day in sports.  The NBA and NHL just ended their seasons,  Baseball had only two games on in the MLB and the NFL is still at least a month away. There was some good news as the College World Series was getting into elimination games and an international soccer tournament was just getting under way.  The rest of the week should get a lot better in sports.  Here’s the list of top 5 sports related events to watch this week.

5. Laker Championship Parade

Sport: NBA
When it’s on: Wednesday, June 17 @ 11 a.m. Pacific Time

The Lakers clinched the NBA Championship last Sunday in Orlando. The next logical step for any champion is to have a parade.  But, when you’re the Lakers, you have a victory parade that costs about $2 million.  This will be a big event for LA not so much for Lebron James (I just had to put that in there).  This event is so big that they had to have it in a football stadium to make room for all the people they are expecting.  The thing to watch for will be what Laker busts a Mark Madsen and embarrass themselves.  My money is on Pau Gasol!

4. College World Series

Sport: College Baseball
When it’s on: All week starting today @ 11 a.m. Pacific Time

I know college baseball doesn’t get all the publicity that football and basketball does, but the CWS is always fun to watch.  It’s a tournament where any team is capable of winning and many times the unexpected does happen.  The last four champions where not even ranked in the tournament.  It’s a fun event to watch even if you don’t have a team.  You can just pick a designated team and have fun watching till the end.

3. MLB
Sport: MLB
When it’s on: All week

The baseball races are starting to heat up right about now with teams finding out if they are contenders or pretenders.  This week should especially be fun to watch with many AL-NL rivalries taking place because of inter-league play.  Some interesting match ups include:  Cubs vs. White Sox, Dodgers vs. Angels, Astros vs. Rangers.  It’s always fun to watch two teams from the same state or city battle for bragging rights amongst fans.

2. Confederations Cup

Sport: International Soccer
When it’s on: All week for group play

International Soccer is one of my favorite things to watch.  The passion that the players and fans have for the game is almost unmatched.  This tournament although not that big (only 8 team) should be fun to watch because of world powers such as Spain, Brazil and Italy.  The U.S. is also in the tournament looking to make a statement, which should give the average U.S. fan something to root for.  The U.S. has a lot of work to do after losing to Italy in their first game to make it to the next round, but it should be fun to watch anyway.  Some great match-ups to watch for: U.S. vs. Brazil, Italy vs. Brazil, Spain vs. anyone.  I just love to watch the way Spain plays.

1.U.S. Open

Sport: Golf
When it’s on: Starts Thursday, June 18 @ 4 a.m. Pacific Time

This is the main event of the week.  All eyes will be on Tiger Woods to see if he can defend his Open title.  He played really well in the last tournament with his come from behind win. This year’s course is said to be very difficult.  So, it will be fun to watch these pros smack the ball around and look average.  Any one can win on a course like that, but my money is still on Tiger.  It will be exciting to watch.

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.

This week in sports blogs and news:

• Brett Myers son is proud to be a redneck - Deadspin
• Kobe Bryant shows up for jury duty - SportsByBrook
• Kevin Youkilis rips Americans for not showing up to WBC games - Larry Brown Sports
• Barack Obama fills out the March Madness bracket - The Sports Hernia

This week on the Smarter Sports Blog we covered:

• “I can’t wait to ruin another locker room”
• Quincy Carter to Play in the IFL
• Smush Parker Says Kobe Bryant was the Problem
• Tiger Woods Tells Jessica Simpson No to Lessons
• March Madness: Let the Dance Begin!

So if you’re going to take up a new sport, why not ask the best to teach you.

That’s apparently what Jessica Simpson has done. Taking up golf to perhaps shed a few pounds, the singer went out and asked Tiger Woods for some personal lessons. The golf pro was quick to shut down the offer, saying he was busy, taking care of his new baby.

Or maybe he’s afraid to get annoyed to death. Same thing.

Source.

Photo Source.

Injuries are a…pain.  Pretty much everyone has to be on the disabled list sometime in their professional sports career.  Because Tiger is so awesome and gave it his all to win the U.S. Open, he will have to take the rest of the season off after he has knee surgery.  Yes, this is good for the long term, but still stinks.  He needs major reconstruction of his A.C.L.  Normally, the time recommended off after a surgery like that can be six to eight months.  No worries, Tiger.  You can give other people a chance to smell the scent of sweet glory as you do every time you pick up a club.

Click here to read the full article from NYTimes.com.

Image Source: Getty Images

Congrats to Tiger. 

Even with a hurt knee he still pulled it off!

Image Source: theage.com.au

Here’s what happened this weekend in sports:

Will it be Tiger or Mediate? The two will face off today in an 18-hole playoff (Noon EST) to decide who will win the 2008 US Open title.

Tiger usually wins when he is up the day before, but he was struggling yesterday because of his hurt knee, but I’m pretty hopeful he will be able to do his thing today.

Lakers win game 5 – I honestly thought they weren’t going to pull it off & I know die-hard fans were pretty disgruntled because of their horrible performance during game 4, especially with sports casters reminding them that no team has ever come back when down by 3-1 to win a title.

So, basically the Lakers will make history of they pull it off. The refs were pretty lenient on the Lakers especially in the last few minutes of the game.  Anyway, I’m sure the Celtics would rather win their final game at home.  :)       

Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the LifeLock 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race! Before this long anticipated victory he was on a 76 race losing streak!

He actually was supposed to run out of gas way before the finish line according to his pit crews estimations, but miraculously he an out of gas just shortly after crossing the finish line.

Turkey beats the Czech Republic to make it to the Euro 2008 Quarterfinals. Turkey’s team captain, Nihat Kahveci, scored two goals in the last three minutes of the game. Pretty awesome.  Check out the game highlights here.

Image Source:  NBA.com, ESPN.com, Boston.com, Telegraph.co.uk