This Week in Sports 2010: Week 14

This past week in sports is one of the biggest of the year. We had major days in the MLB, NCAA, Golf, and some pretty big NFL deals went down. We saw Tiger for the first time in ages, we saw Butler play for the Championship, we saw the first glimpse of the Major League season in baseball, and we saw a couple of NFL superstars get new homes.

The Masters was one of the most talked about sporting events in a while because it was the return of Tiger Woods, who was coming off his 144 day lay off due to all his troubles. He didn't have the finish he wanted though. Instead he finished tied for 4th while shooting -11. Phil Mickelson also has had quite a year. His wife, Amy Mickelson, Phil’s wife, was diagnosed with breast cancer a while back. Phil ended up taking his 3rd Masters green jacket shooting -16.

In the MLB this week, we saw the real Opening Day. Technically Opening Day was on Sunday between the Yankees and the BoSox, but every other team played their first games on Monday, except the Tampa Bay Rays (GO RAYS) and the Baltimore Orioles, who started their seasons on Tuesday. So far we have seen some excellent pitching by some old vets like Roy Halladay, CC Sabathia, Barry Zito, and Randy Wolf. Matt Garza also had a great first outing.  Some hitting slumps for some big bats as well with Mark Tiexeiria and Evan Longoria struggling to get consistant base hits, though Longo has 2 HR’s. We were all also impressed by Jason Heyward, the Braves young outfielder, who in his forts ever career MLB at-bat, knocks home a 450-feet home run off Carlos Zambrano. 

And finally, the NCAA Championship game. And oh boy was it a good one. Butler the 5 seed and hometown heroes, versus Duke who is the most hated team in the field. Who would of guessed the final score  61-59, with Duke winning. Duke was favored highly, but Butler kept it close the whole game, and Gordon Hayword came oh-so-close to winning the game, twice, including a half court shot at the buzzer that hit the rim and the backboard. Duke probably deserved to win, but everyone outside of North Carolina (basically) was rooting heavily for Butler.

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This Week in Sports 2010: Week 10

Championship week in College Basketball headlines this week. As does LT heading to the Jets and more Spring Training in the MLB.

All the conference tournaments in the NCAA were this week. The big conference champions were West Virginia in the Big East, Ohio State in the Big 10, the Jayhawks of Kansas in the Big 12, and Kentucky in the SEC. There were many close games though. OSU won on a Evan Turner game winner from just inside half court, it was a spectacular shot and I highly suggest trying to find it on YouTube if you have not already seen it. West Virginia had to win 2 games on game winners by Da’Sean Butler and Kentucky went to overtime on a Demarcus Cousins put back at the buzzer with Mississippi State in the SEC Championship. Another highlight this week was Selection Sunday. The best day in College Basketball was this week. I will have a link to a full bracket. The 1 seeds are Duke, Syracuse, Kansas, and Kentucky. The 2’s are West Virginia, Ohio State, Kansas State, and Villanova. The 3’s were Georgetown, Pittsburg, Baylor, and New Mexico. Yes, my Lobos are a 3 seed and will play Montana on Thursday. GO LOBOS. Bracket: http://cuthut.com/WUf

LaDanian Tomlinson has joined the Chargers playoff rival. LT is now part of the Jets, the team that ended the Charger’s run in this past NFL Playoffs. LT will be part of Mart Schottenheimer’s offense, which he is quite familiar with as Schottenheimer was with the Chargers earlier in LT’s career. 

The Twin’s pitcher Joe Nathan, who had surgery earlier this off-season to rmove bone spurs from his elbow, has torn a ligament in his same elbow. This is devastating news to Twins fans, as Nathan was playing great. He will most likely miss the whole season, but he wants to get second and third opinion on his elbow. 

Next week’s edition will be all on the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, so be prepared for March Madness overload!

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This Week in Sports 2010: Week 5 (Super Bowl XLIV Edition)

Who Dat? Drew Dat. Drew Brees was unreal in the biggest game of his career. Brees was 32/39 for 288 yards and 2 touchdowns in the 31-17 Saints (who were down 10 at the end of the first) victory. The Super Bowl MVP was Super indeed. But the Saints most clutch player was not on offense. He is one Tracy Porter. Porter, with his carved hair and all (Google it), got the game saving interception again. First against Brett Favre in the NFC Championship game, now Peyton Manning with roughly 3 minutes left to go up 14. 

Sean Payton made some of the gutsiest plays in Super Bowl history. Going for it on 4th and goal, the onside kick to end the half, playing Reggie Wayne close with the risk of him beating Porter. All his gutsy attempts paid off. 

Looking at Peyton Manning's pass that was picked, you will see that it was a decent route, and a decent pass. But it was a GREAT read by Tracy Porter. Peyton was on a role during that whole drive, and Reggie Wayne was involved in the drive for the first time all game. But there was that hard hitting, aggressive, take-all-risks Saints defense there to halt the Super Bowl dreams of yet another team, and yet another legendary quarterback. Peyton was 31/45 with 333 yards, 1 touch down, and 1 pick. Joseph Addai was the surprise of the game for me as he rushed for a solid 77 yards and 1 touch down with 58 yards receiving. The story of the week was probably Dwight Freeny's ankle. It was sore all week and there were rumors he would not play. But he played as he said he would and did not do bad. He had a crucial sack on 3rd down and forced the Saints to double team him every snap. 

This was one of the most exciting Super Bowls in a long while, and was very close to being the first one ever to go into overtime. Super Bowl XLIV will go down in history as a feel-good story on how one team had the whole country behind them, and how the town went from ruins to Super Bowl Champions.

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This Week in Sports 2010: Week 4

This week was mainly about College Basketball upsets, NBA matchups, and of course the Pro Bowl. In this NFL Playoff-less week, College Basketball got the spotlight with the number 1 team in the land losing their first game ranked first, Texas dropping their 3rd game of the season, and number 12 (10 ESPN) BYU losing to my ranked 23rd UNM Lobos. 

The NCAA finally got the spotlight back this week from the NFL, since this is the "filler" week before the Big Game. Number 1 Kentucky got a call from Barack Obama telling them to hold on to their number 1 spot and he looks forward to watching them. I would like to thank Mr Obama for jinxing them (I am kidding of course). The Cats dropped their first game on top to South Carolina 62-68. Devan Downey dropped 30 points, though he was only 9-29 from the field. DeMarcus Cousins dropped 27, but that was not enough. John Wall also added 19. Texas dropped their 3rd of their last 4 games this week, losing to the Baylor Bears on overtime 77-80. Tweety Carter had 27 for Baylor. Texas has hit a wall, lets see if they can get through. New Mexico is back. My Lobos are on a 6 game win streak after losing their first 2 conference games. The Lobos knocked off number 10 BYU at the Pit on Wednesday and beat TCU in Fort Worth on Saturday. UNM is a half game behind BYU for the lead in the Mountain West Conference, which is better than the Pac 10 right now, and just barely behind the Big 10. Barack Obama also called part of the Georgetown-Duke game. At least he didn't jinx Georgetown. 

The Pro Bowl is before the Super Bowl for the first time and is in Miami instead of Hawaii. I personally like the Pro Bowl before the Super Bowl because you have football to watch in the week before the Big One. There are however no one from the Saints or the Colts participating obviously, they have more important things to prepare for.

Lakers took on the Celtics on Sunday, and boy was it a classic Laker-Celtic game. The Lakeshow came back from down 11 in the 4th to take the W in Boston by 1, 90-89. The Lakers had a balanced scoring attack led by Kobe and Andrew Bynum with 19 a piece. Boston was led by Rajon Rondo who had 21 points and 12 assists. On another note, Andre Miller (remember him?) dropped 52 points Saturday in the Blazers win over the Mavs in OT.

In this pre-Super Bowl week, we saw upsets, career highs, the Pro Bowl, and WINTER X GAMES! See you all next week, where it will be the Big Game as our main focus. Have a good one.

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This Week in Sports 2010: Week 3

This is week 3 of my column, and what a week it was in sports! There is now only 1 undefeated team in college basketball, a thursday showdown between the 2 best players...in 2 sports, the NBA All-Star starting lineups announced bringing controversy with them, and the NFL Championship weekend ends with one to remember. Lets get started.

Texas and Kentucky came in to the week battling for the top spot in the land. Texas had some close calls earlier in the year, as did the Wildcats. Texas was put in the top spot with Kentucky right behind, and it looked like the Wildcats would stay behind unless Texas were to lose. They did,  not once, but twice this week. The first loss was to a very good Kansas State team in Manhattan (Kansas). Texas then fell again to a Jim Calhoun-less UConn Huskies in Connecticut. Kansas State and UConn are both great top 25 teams, as Texas lost by single digits in both, but K-State went on to lose their next game at home to Oklahoma State by 4. Kentucky will be the new number 1 as they are now the only undefeated team in the nation. Quick side note, my UNM Lobos won their 2 games this week by huge margins as they knocked off Air Force in Colorado Springs by 23 and beat Colorado State by 18. These 2 wins are over sub-par teams, but hopefully they will be enough to get back in the top 25. 

Thursday was a huge day this week. We had 2 of the best players facing each other in 2 different sports. Kobe Bryant and LA visited LeBron James and the Cavs, while Alexander Ovechkin visited Sidney Crosby as the Caps faced the Penguins. Ovechkin and the Caps beat the Penguins 6-3, Ovechkin having 2 goals and 1 assist. Sid the Kid was not as affective, having just 1 goal. On the hardwood it was a different story, as the Cavs held on by 6. The highlight of the night might not have had to do with the Cavs though. Kobe Bryant scored his 25,000 point Thursday night, becoming the youngest player to ever reach that milestone. Bryant finished with 31. But LeBron had to ruin Kobe's night as he dropped 37 points and grabbed 9 boards. 

Also in the NBA on Thursday was the announcement of the All-Star starters. In the East, the team goes Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard, and Allen Iverson. Yes, I did say Allen Iverson. He has only played 21 games this season, averaging 14 points, 3 rebounds, and 4 assists. The fans vote for the starters, and he was the fan's vote. We can't blame him, though he obviously doesn't deserve to be an All Star starter. But he his a great player and I will watch him in Dallas on All Star weekend expecting to see the Allen Iverson that is the now 11 time All Star.

The biggest news this week was the conference championship games is the NFL. These games determine which teams go to the Big Game in Miami. Let's start in the AFC, where the heavyweight Colts took on the Cinderella Jets. Peyton Manning threw for 377 yards and 3 touchdowns as the Colts ended the Jets run. Mark Sanchez threw for 257 yards and 2 touchdowns (1 interception) and the number 1 rushing game in the league only rushed for 86 yards. The Colts beat the Jets in rushing yards....wow. That was the key for both teams. The Colts will win 9 times out of 10 if they can hold the Jets running game. And the Jets will give themseves a fair shot at winning if they can run like we all know they can. But the best game of the playoffs so far was the NFC Championship game as Drew Brees and the Saints hosted Brett Favre and the Vikings. This is what Favre came back for. In a turnover riddled game, it took extra time and a 40 yard field goal for the win. Drew Brees threw for only 197 yards (3 TD's), and the Saints only rushed for 68 yards, and somehow they still won. Brett Favre threw for 310 yards and only 1 TD and the Vikings rushed for 165 yards. But the Vikes also had 5 turnovers. And that was the game. Garrett Hartley nailed the only field goal of the night from 40 yards in overtime to seal the deal and send the Saints marching to their first ever Super Bowl. "Who Dat? Drew Dat" read a sign at the game. Saints, Colts, Miami, Super Bowl XLIV, cannot wait. A game where turnovers ruled, Brett Favre's possible last throw of his career, was an interception. 

What a week this was, and I can't wait till the next one to see what sports stories will come out of it. Have a good one till next week!

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