Yesterday showed the second session of the "Natinals" #1 pick Stephen Strasburg, and so far he is living up to his hype.
Full article: Latest Strasburg session astounds
--AZ
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
2010 Vancouver Olympics - "Well, this sucks..."
I just read an article from Yahoo! Sports this morning about a speedskating mishap that cost a favorite a gold medal. No, it's not Apolo Ohno, but it's Sven Kramer of The Netherlands, who made a sort of "wrong turn" during the 10,000m race. The way it works is every lap they need to move from the inner lane to the outer lane and vice versa in order to even out the time sustained during the race. Do I find it confusing to go in and out for a whole 7 1/2 miles or so? Yeah, absolutely. But Kramer is apparently taking the blame for this as he should have remained focused. In the article, he was quoted:
“I wasn’t getting tired at all." “I skated one of my best 10,000s ever, if not my best. I thought something was wrong but you have to decide in a split second.”
He threw his glasses off after the disqualification and dealt with a screaming coach. Many skaters have dealt with this happening (even in World Championships) firsthand and know the pain that ensues. From experience, they know that the fault is by the unfortunate skater.
As a millionaire coming from a country that lives on speedskating, Kramer is definitely going to have a hard time swallowing this Olympic-sized mishap.
View the Yahoo! Sports article here: Coach sends Kramer on embarrassing wrong turn
--AZ
“I wasn’t getting tired at all." “I skated one of my best 10,000s ever, if not my best. I thought something was wrong but you have to decide in a split second.”
He threw his glasses off after the disqualification and dealt with a screaming coach. Many skaters have dealt with this happening (even in World Championships) firsthand and know the pain that ensues. From experience, they know that the fault is by the unfortunate skater.
As a millionaire coming from a country that lives on speedskating, Kramer is definitely going to have a hard time swallowing this Olympic-sized mishap.
View the Yahoo! Sports article here: Coach sends Kramer on embarrassing wrong turn
--AZ
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
NFL Offseason Scoop - The End of Eras for Running Backs
Ah yes, the NFL. Something I don't really specialize in.
This is kind of a big deal though (well, in Philly and in San Diego, that is).
Yesterday, the Chargers organization released RB LaDainian Tomlinson after nine successful seasons. Nine years of success in the NFL = lots of accomplishments. From Casey Pearce's article on the Chargers' website:
"Tomlinson owns or shares 28 team records, including career rushing yards, yards from scrimmage and touchdowns. During his nine seasons in San Diego, Tomlinson won two rushing titles (2006 and ’07), set an NFL single-season record for touchdowns in a season (31 in ’06) and racked up 12,490 rushing yards, the eighth-highest total in NFL history. He was the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 2006 and earned Pro Bowl honors five times."
Holy. Cow. All of this before and at the age of 30. Over the past couple of days I've been hearing so many sports analysts saying that after the age of 30, the wear and tear of being a running back in the NFL takes it's toll due to the versatility of the job and all of the injuries--you know where I'm getting at now. Like I've said before, I don't normally follow the NFL, but I know about LT and all of the stuff he's done, and with his contributions he will definitely remain a Charger at heart and will be first in line for the Hall of Fame once eligible.
This afternoon, the Philadelphia Eagles announced the release of RB Brian Westbrook after an eight-year tenure. Rumors were swirling around recently since Westbrook had turned 30 at the beginning of the season and had only played 8 games during this past season due to two concussions sustained within a few weeks of each other. Not only that, but during his 8 seasons as an Eagle, he hadn't played a whole entire season because of injuries to either his knees or his ankles (usually his ankles in case if you were wondering). That doesn't mean he didn't do anything though. He was good enough to set franchise records for his team. According to the article on the Eagles' website:
"Westbrook's numbers speak for themselves: third in the NFL with more than 8,500 yards from scrimmage since 2004, second in team history with 5,995 yards, third in total receptions with 426 and an amazing 9,785 total yards from scrimmage, a franchise high."
Growing up in Philadelphia and having a family full of hardcore Eagles fans, this is kind of a sad day because of the kind of heart that Westbrook played with. Known as "Route 36 West" here, a lot of fans are slowly beginning to understand the reason for his release and knew that the end was coming sooner than expected.
Both running backs will always be respected in their cities, and I wish the both of them the best.
For more information...
Tomlinson's time in San Diego ends
Tough To Say Goodbye To An Eagles Legend
--AZ
This is kind of a big deal though (well, in Philly and in San Diego, that is).
Yesterday, the Chargers organization released RB LaDainian Tomlinson after nine successful seasons. Nine years of success in the NFL = lots of accomplishments. From Casey Pearce's article on the Chargers' website:
"Tomlinson owns or shares 28 team records, including career rushing yards, yards from scrimmage and touchdowns. During his nine seasons in San Diego, Tomlinson won two rushing titles (2006 and ’07), set an NFL single-season record for touchdowns in a season (31 in ’06) and racked up 12,490 rushing yards, the eighth-highest total in NFL history. He was the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 2006 and earned Pro Bowl honors five times."
Holy. Cow. All of this before and at the age of 30. Over the past couple of days I've been hearing so many sports analysts saying that after the age of 30, the wear and tear of being a running back in the NFL takes it's toll due to the versatility of the job and all of the injuries--you know where I'm getting at now. Like I've said before, I don't normally follow the NFL, but I know about LT and all of the stuff he's done, and with his contributions he will definitely remain a Charger at heart and will be first in line for the Hall of Fame once eligible.
This afternoon, the Philadelphia Eagles announced the release of RB Brian Westbrook after an eight-year tenure. Rumors were swirling around recently since Westbrook had turned 30 at the beginning of the season and had only played 8 games during this past season due to two concussions sustained within a few weeks of each other. Not only that, but during his 8 seasons as an Eagle, he hadn't played a whole entire season because of injuries to either his knees or his ankles (usually his ankles in case if you were wondering). That doesn't mean he didn't do anything though. He was good enough to set franchise records for his team. According to the article on the Eagles' website:
"Westbrook's numbers speak for themselves: third in the NFL with more than 8,500 yards from scrimmage since 2004, second in team history with 5,995 yards, third in total receptions with 426 and an amazing 9,785 total yards from scrimmage, a franchise high."
Growing up in Philadelphia and having a family full of hardcore Eagles fans, this is kind of a sad day because of the kind of heart that Westbrook played with. Known as "Route 36 West" here, a lot of fans are slowly beginning to understand the reason for his release and knew that the end was coming sooner than expected.
Both running backs will always be respected in their cities, and I wish the both of them the best.
For more information...
Tomlinson's time in San Diego ends
Tough To Say Goodbye To An Eagles Legend
--AZ
Monday, February 22, 2010
Spring Training 2010 - The Gang's All Here!
Ah, the vernal equinox, the season which begins many anticipations: warmer weather, impending and feared allergies, Easter [food], much needed housecleaning, highly anticipated washed-up reality TV finales, and of course... Major League Baseball.
On this rather cold day just about anywhere in the US of A, thousands of men who like to throw balls, run, hit stuff, and play pranks on each other are reporting to their respective camps in Florida to begin their Spring Training sessions. Yes, ST officially began last week with the reporting of pitchers and catchers, but this is where the real fun starts, right? It's like when you come back to your high school in September and you see all your friends (I went to an all-girls high school, so when we saw someone we knew, we screamed, ran to the person, and hugged them as if we'd hadn't seen them in 5 years)and notice how different people look since last year. Some people don't change at all; sure, guys get married and maybe buy new condos, get contract extensions (*cough* Joe Torre *cough*) or get new commercial deals (Hey everybody, Charlie Manuel is the new poster boy for Nutrisystem by losing a whopping 60 pounds!). Some people look completely different. Like so:
Don't you just wanna give him a hug?
Phillies OF Jayson Werth shows up to Clearwater, FL for his training sessions looking like, well, Jesus. Is he thinking about saving the team and avenging the World Series loss to the 27-time champion New York Yankees? Don't know.
Anyway, many teams have been reconstructed from every which way this year. First two teams that come to mind: the Seattle Mariners and the New York Mets.
Seattle, after a harsh 2009, has acquired the much-sought-for INF Chone Figgins, the not-to-be-confused-for-a-board-game OF Milton Bradley, and the Phillies former 3-1/2-month-stand-LHP Cliff Lee. Not to mention, they also gave a big extension to ace [King] Felix Hernandez. Do they want a ring this year? Sure. Let's just hope a team like the '01 Yankees doesn't try to rain on their parade after having as many as 116 wins that season. Good gravy, how did they not win that year?!
The New York Mets...hmm. After finishing fourth in the NL East in 2009 due to having more injuries than a whole nursing home can handle, the rosters changes, contract extensions, and signings were, let's say, abundant. Already losing OF Carlos Beltran for several weeks due to hip surgery that supposedly nobody really knew about and therefore sending the Mets' front office into chaos, as well as INF Carlos Delgado due to injury, the Mets are showing their money. Gaining some well-known names such as OF Jason Bay, Mets' ace Johann Santana thinks they can do it this year. He also thinks he's better than the Phillies LHP Roy Halladay. Is it true? Looks like we'll be finding that out soon enough.
There have also been some news spreading around concerning Red Sox RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka and his physical health after an issue with back tightness. After throwing a session today, he was cleared to begin throwing on flat ground. According to MLB.com's Ian Browne, "Matsuzaka looks at the back injury as more of an annoyance than a setback." Sounds like good news for the Sox. He puts a springy step into Boston's rotation, and in all honesty, Boston fans don't look very friendly when they lose something precious.
Source for full article: Dice-K cleared to start throwing regimen
That's all I have for today. Any more information and updates that I've missed over the past few days will be covered as soon as possible. If it's not here, it's because I'm still misinformed and horrible in researching, or I personally don't find it important enough to rant about.
Oh yeah, and Jayson Werth's beard has a Twitter account too. It's that big.
http://twitter.com/JWerthsBeard
I dare you goofs to follow it.
--AZ
On this rather cold day just about anywhere in the US of A, thousands of men who like to throw balls, run, hit stuff, and play pranks on each other are reporting to their respective camps in Florida to begin their Spring Training sessions. Yes, ST officially began last week with the reporting of pitchers and catchers, but this is where the real fun starts, right? It's like when you come back to your high school in September and you see all your friends (I went to an all-girls high school, so when we saw someone we knew, we screamed, ran to the person, and hugged them as if we'd hadn't seen them in 5 years)and notice how different people look since last year. Some people don't change at all; sure, guys get married and maybe buy new condos, get contract extensions (*cough* Joe Torre *cough*) or get new commercial deals (Hey everybody, Charlie Manuel is the new poster boy for Nutrisystem by losing a whopping 60 pounds!). Some people look completely different. Like so:
Don't you just wanna give him a hug?
Phillies OF Jayson Werth shows up to Clearwater, FL for his training sessions looking like, well, Jesus. Is he thinking about saving the team and avenging the World Series loss to the 27-time champion New York Yankees? Don't know.
Anyway, many teams have been reconstructed from every which way this year. First two teams that come to mind: the Seattle Mariners and the New York Mets.
Seattle, after a harsh 2009, has acquired the much-sought-for INF Chone Figgins, the not-to-be-confused-for-a-board-game OF Milton Bradley, and the Phillies former 3-1/2-month-stand-LHP Cliff Lee. Not to mention, they also gave a big extension to ace [King] Felix Hernandez. Do they want a ring this year? Sure. Let's just hope a team like the '01 Yankees doesn't try to rain on their parade after having as many as 116 wins that season. Good gravy, how did they not win that year?!
The New York Mets...hmm. After finishing fourth in the NL East in 2009 due to having more injuries than a whole nursing home can handle, the rosters changes, contract extensions, and signings were, let's say, abundant. Already losing OF Carlos Beltran for several weeks due to hip surgery that supposedly nobody really knew about and therefore sending the Mets' front office into chaos, as well as INF Carlos Delgado due to injury, the Mets are showing their money. Gaining some well-known names such as OF Jason Bay, Mets' ace Johann Santana thinks they can do it this year. He also thinks he's better than the Phillies LHP Roy Halladay. Is it true? Looks like we'll be finding that out soon enough.
There have also been some news spreading around concerning Red Sox RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka and his physical health after an issue with back tightness. After throwing a session today, he was cleared to begin throwing on flat ground. According to MLB.com's Ian Browne, "Matsuzaka looks at the back injury as more of an annoyance than a setback." Sounds like good news for the Sox. He puts a springy step into Boston's rotation, and in all honesty, Boston fans don't look very friendly when they lose something precious.
Source for full article: Dice-K cleared to start throwing regimen
That's all I have for today. Any more information and updates that I've missed over the past few days will be covered as soon as possible. If it's not here, it's because I'm still misinformed and horrible in researching, or I personally don't find it important enough to rant about.
Oh yeah, and Jayson Werth's beard has a Twitter account too. It's that big.
http://twitter.com/JWerthsBeard
I dare you goofs to follow it.
--AZ
Sunday, February 21, 2010
USA vs. Canada - Battle of the Neighbors...On Ice
I'm just watched the Olympic hockey game, which was pretty darn good if you ask me.
Hearing about this game at first I was thinking "USA and Canada? Oh boy!" And because Canada was the country that created the sport, it's only common knowledge that they want the gold in their sport--in their own country.
Are they backing their claim to win gold? Right now, well, they're....trying to.
[My original pick: Canada is taking the win.]
For Canada, it doesn't look so good right now. The United States took them down with a score of 5-3, and American goaltender Ryan Miller went absolutely nuts in that net the whole game. Canada never really let up either, which on both ends is rather good. The game shown previously on television (Russia vs. Czech Republic) refused to disappoint, and this was definitely the same thing. No lie, the US is making me look like a monkey's aunt.
During the broadcast, it was said that Canada believes the US "disgraced" the sport of hockey. Do I agree with this? Of course not. Let's recap here...the United States has the National Hockey League (NHL), and to boot, a large amount of Canadians (as well as Russians, Slavs, Swedes, etc.) are playing the sport within the United States. Would you call that disgracing? It's not like we spit on the sport, we promoted it.
Let's use the example of baseball. The sport of baseball was originated in the United States. Since then, there have been several leagues spreading around the globe, such as the Japan Baseball League and the Caribbean Leagues. Are they disgracing it? No. Are they any good? Watch some footage from the World Baseball Classic from 2006 and from last year. Obviously, the Japanese and the Koreans are outdoing the founding father country, as it were.
In conclusion, every country involved in a sport promotes it and supports it in some way. Sometimes it's nice to see a team from another country outdo the country who made the sport famous.
For more information and final stats on this game, check it out here
--AZ
Hearing about this game at first I was thinking "USA and Canada? Oh boy!" And because Canada was the country that created the sport, it's only common knowledge that they want the gold in their sport--in their own country.
Are they backing their claim to win gold? Right now, well, they're....trying to.
[My original pick: Canada is taking the win.]
For Canada, it doesn't look so good right now. The United States took them down with a score of 5-3, and American goaltender Ryan Miller went absolutely nuts in that net the whole game. Canada never really let up either, which on both ends is rather good. The game shown previously on television (Russia vs. Czech Republic) refused to disappoint, and this was definitely the same thing. No lie, the US is making me look like a monkey's aunt.
During the broadcast, it was said that Canada believes the US "disgraced" the sport of hockey. Do I agree with this? Of course not. Let's recap here...the United States has the National Hockey League (NHL), and to boot, a large amount of Canadians (as well as Russians, Slavs, Swedes, etc.) are playing the sport within the United States. Would you call that disgracing? It's not like we spit on the sport, we promoted it.
Let's use the example of baseball. The sport of baseball was originated in the United States. Since then, there have been several leagues spreading around the globe, such as the Japan Baseball League and the Caribbean Leagues. Are they disgracing it? No. Are they any good? Watch some footage from the World Baseball Classic from 2006 and from last year. Obviously, the Japanese and the Koreans are outdoing the founding father country, as it were.
In conclusion, every country involved in a sport promotes it and supports it in some way. Sometimes it's nice to see a team from another country outdo the country who made the sport famous.
For more information and final stats on this game, check it out here
--AZ
Welcome to a hodgepodge of opinions...
Hello everyone,
So I've just created a blog that I hope will increase my sports writing skills since I'm about halfway through college as a communications major. Now I guess you can basically tell which direction I'm going right now.
I grew up a huge Phillies fan (oh God, I'm from...there) and since then, I've been following a bunch of sports-related stuff, such as baseball, soccer, hockey, and a hint of football. Basketball isn't exactly my cup of tea, but when I have the chance, I'll watch the NBA finals or something.
Weird sports are good times too, I guess. I'm a huge WWE fan (I call it weird because it's scripted and mainly theatrical stuff) and I recently got into Australian Rules Football which is a butch lovechild of rugby and American football without padding. I understand that MMA is the new sporting phenomenon, but me being a girl and all, I can't seem to get into two guys trying to choke each other with their inner thighs and judo chopping the living crap out of other guys. Since when did we revert to Ancient Roman times?
Anyway, enough about that. I'm gonna attempt to be as neutral as possible when it comes to this kind of stuff. Being one-sided loses readers, am I right? (ha) I'm not going to necessarily stick to one sport, but I'll move around a bit. It's mostly going to be baseball, hockey, and soccer, and when I feel like it, football. If I do write about WWE/TNA/MMA stuff, it's going to be altogether in one post and most likely monthly. Since college work comes in bunches (like bananas, but less yellow) so it's going to be hard to update this daily (possibly weekly) until the summer.
Well, that's enough about me for now. I'll think of something to write about. Besides...spring training has begun (chorus begins).
--AZ
So I've just created a blog that I hope will increase my sports writing skills since I'm about halfway through college as a communications major. Now I guess you can basically tell which direction I'm going right now.
I grew up a huge Phillies fan (oh God, I'm from...there) and since then, I've been following a bunch of sports-related stuff, such as baseball, soccer, hockey, and a hint of football. Basketball isn't exactly my cup of tea, but when I have the chance, I'll watch the NBA finals or something.
Weird sports are good times too, I guess. I'm a huge WWE fan (I call it weird because it's scripted and mainly theatrical stuff) and I recently got into Australian Rules Football which is a butch lovechild of rugby and American football without padding. I understand that MMA is the new sporting phenomenon, but me being a girl and all, I can't seem to get into two guys trying to choke each other with their inner thighs and judo chopping the living crap out of other guys. Since when did we revert to Ancient Roman times?
Anyway, enough about that. I'm gonna attempt to be as neutral as possible when it comes to this kind of stuff. Being one-sided loses readers, am I right? (ha) I'm not going to necessarily stick to one sport, but I'll move around a bit. It's mostly going to be baseball, hockey, and soccer, and when I feel like it, football. If I do write about WWE/TNA/MMA stuff, it's going to be altogether in one post and most likely monthly. Since college work comes in bunches (like bananas, but less yellow) so it's going to be hard to update this daily (possibly weekly) until the summer.
Well, that's enough about me for now. I'll think of something to write about. Besides...spring training has begun (chorus begins).
--AZ
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