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South Carolina Repeats College Baseball National Title

South Carolina National Title

South Carolina won the first CWS at TD Ameritrade Park.  Last year they won the national title at the Rosenblat Stadium.

Michael Roth SC’s starting pitcher was dominating at the mound in game 2.  The whole SC team was thinking about mimicking the Oregon State team of 2007.  South Carolina set records Tuesday night for having 11 straight victories in the CWS.  South Carolina became one of only six teams to win consecutive national college baseball

Florida’s Coach was focused on forcing game 3, but SC held up strong.  “You have to be a little lucky to win this game,” said Gamecocks coach Ray Tanner.

Wingo was clutch against Texas A&M in the bottom of the ninth.  Wingo was very successful late in game one against Florida as well.  .

“He’s been so valuable to this program,” Tanner said. “He loves this program. He has fun. That’s how you have to play this game.”

Michael Roth pitched a whopping seven innings against Virginia in last year’s National Championship game.  “Mike has the biggest heart of anyone I’ve seen on the field,” said South Carolina’s Christian Walker.  “You want him out there even if he’s not 100 percent.”

Roth 1.17 ERA over 38 innings is second all-time behind Steve Arlin who played for Ohio State in the 60’s.

Roth gave up a double to Florida’s own Mike Zunino who ended up scoring a run later in the inning.

Matt Price, SC’s closer went in for the kill with his 20^th game save. worked 1 1/3 innings for his 20th save.

Florida’s pitching came out strong in the 8^th and 9^th inning but South Carolina prevailed.   Whitson, Florida’s star pitcher will be leaving the team next season due to a 9^th overall draft pick to the San Diego Padres.

“I just think I started nibbling a little bit and pitched behind the count, walked a couple of guys, hit a few,” Whitson said. “It wasn’t very good execution on my part. Just tried to keep my team in the game as best as possible.”

The Los Angeles Dodgers Filing for Bankruptcy

Dodgers Filing for Bankruptcy

According to Los Angeles Dodger’s owner Frank McCourt the team has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy under the U.S. Bankruptcy code.  The move is being done to protect the franchise and help to provide a path where it will enable the Club to complete a media transaction while capitalizing the team.  McCourt says that the reason for the bankruptcy filing is because Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig refused to allow the Fox transaction.

“The Dodgers have delivered time and again since I became owner, and that’s been good for baseball,” McCourt said. “We turned the team around financially after years of annual losses before I purchased the team. We invested $150 million in the stadium. We’ve had excellent on-field performance, including playoff appearances four times in seven years. And we brought the Commissioner a media rights deal that would have solved the cash flow challenge I presented to him a year ago, when his leadership team called us a ‘model franchise.’ Yet he’s turned his back on the Dodgers, treated us differently, and forced us to the point we find ourselves in today. I simply cannot allow the Commissioner to knowingly and intentionally be in a position to expose the Dodgers to financial risk any longer. It is my hope that the Chapter 11 process will create a fair and constructive environment to get done what we couldn’t achieve with the Commissioner directly.”

The Dodgers have been trying for about a year to have Commissioner Bud Selig put his stamp of approval on a transaction.  The transaction would ensure that the Los Angeles Dodgers would be one of the top capitalized franchises in Major League Baseball now and for years to come.  The Dodgers sought Selig’s approval for a transaction that the Dodgers negotiated with FOX.  That deal would have immediately given hundreds of millions of dollars in capital to the Dodgers. The commission denied the deal to go through, knowing that the Dodgers franchises’ projected cash and liquidity needs for 2011.

“The deal with Fox demonstrates that the Dodgers have enormous value which substantially exceeds the team’s current and future liabilities,” announced Bruce Bennett, bankruptcy counsel from Dewey & LeBoeuf. “The team is entering the bankruptcy case with enough committed financing to meet all of its short term expenses and to successful reorganize. The media rights will, one way or another, generate enough value to facilitate a reorganization.”

Serena Williams Is Defeated at Wimbledon

Serena Williams Is Defeated

Serena Williams was on a career come back when she overcame career-threatening health issues.  She also saved four match points against Marion Bartoli on Monday, where it appeared that she was unstoppable.  It seemed like nothing could keep her down this year at Wimbledon.

Logic prevailed on Court 1 when Bartoli, with a feisty full swing where she defeated Serena by 6-3, 7-6 (6) as she brought victory with a flat winner to the corner.

If this had been a normal year the win would have been considered a huge upset.  But this year is far from normal for Williams.  Williams is the 29-year old defending champ who missed almost a year of competition and just returned to grass-court action in Eastbourne one week before Wimbledon.

While Serena showed she was capable of inspirational tennis while at the All England Club, she fell short of defending her title.  Her fourth-round defeat was Serena’s earliest at Wimbledon since 2005.  In 2005 she was upset by fellow American Jill Craybas.  Serena will drop out of the top 100 rankings after the Wimbledon loss.

Bartoli was in the ninth seed and has won many matches more lately than Serena.  She did have a wild ride at Wimbledon where she had to save match points against Lourdes Dominguez Lino.  She even asked her parents to exit the court during the third round when she lost here opening set to Flavia Pennetta.

“For 10 seconds I lost my mind,” spoke Bartoli, who apologized later to her family.

But Walter, Bartoli’s father, and who has been her coach even since childhood, came back to the stands Monday where he got the chance to watch his daughter play one of her finest matches in her career.

The #1 Pick in the 2011 NBA Draft Went to the Cleveland Cavaliers with Duke Guard Kyrie Irving

Cleveland Cavaliers with Duke

The Cleveland Cavalaries had the first pick of the NBA 2011 Draft and they chose Duke University’s guard Kyrie Irving as the #1 pick on Thursday, June 23.

The team expects Irving to be the future of the team in the point guard position, with immedite contributions next season.

Irving had a special feeling in his heart just knowing that his family and friends were all together and the memory of hearing his name called will be rememebered for the rest of his life.  He said it was heart felt going from being a fan of the NBA draft to now being someone who was drafted in the NBA Draft.

The Minnesota Timberwolves got the #2 pick where Minnesota chose Arizona forward Derrick Williams.  Basketball experts believe that Williams is the most NBA-ready participant in this year’s NBA Draft.  The Timberwolves had earlier in the week added guard Ricky Rubio of Spain as well.  Experts believe that the Timberwolves were probably trying to trade the pick in hopes of adding a veteran center or shooting guard to their team.  Not finding the right offer, they chose Williams instead.

The Utah Jazz took Turkish Enes Kanter third as the first of their two lottery selections.  Kanter should add more size to an already solid backcourt which includes Derrick Favors, Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap.

After snapping up Irving, the Cavaliers used their #4 selection for Tristan Thompson, the Texas forward who is an excellent shot blocker and offensive rebounder.  The Cavaliers were the first team since the Houston Rockets in 1983 with two top-four picks.

Young and Hawes get Qualifying Offers from Philadelphia Sixers

Young and Hawes - Philadelphia

In Philadelphia on Wednesday the Philadelphia 76ers announced that the organization had delivered qualifying offers to forward Thaddeus Young and to center Spencer Hawes.  It is the team’s policy not to disclose the financial details of such deals.

According to the league’s agreement of collective bargaining, for the team to keep its right of first refusal in reference to a free agent who is restricted that the team must give them a qualifying offer prior to the end of June.  A free agent that is restricted can sign any team’s offer sheet, but they are subject to a first right of refusal from the team which they last played for.

In the past season Hawes started all but one game while player for the Sixers.  Hawes averaged 7.2 points and 5.7 rebounds while assisting 1.5 in his 21.2 minutes per game.  When the Sixers had a record of 14-6 Hawes scored in double figures.  He was first the 10^th overall pick in the NBA Draft of 2007 by Sacramento.  The Sixers acquired him from a trade with the Kings along with Andres Nocioni while exchanging Samuel Dalembert in June 2010.

Young finished in third place of the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year vote that took place this season.  Young appeared in all of the Sixers 82 games during 2010-2011.  He averaged 5.3 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 12.7 points.  He also averaged 1.10 steals in the 23.3 minutes per game that he played for the Sixers.  The Philadelphia team was 12-3 when he scored more than 20 points this past season.  Young was the 12^th overall pick of Philadelphia during the NBA Draft of 2007.

It’s a Very Emotional Win for Serena Williams

Emotional Win Serena Williams

After a first-round victory at Wimbledon Serena Williams was in tears, tears like we’ve never ever seen before.  She reports that she usually does not cry so she was in shock.  Williams told the BBC, “…it’s been so hard, I never dreamt I would be here right now. I just wanted to win at least one match here.”

Serena saw her dream come true as she beat Aravane Rezai 6-3, 3-6, and 6-1.  However it was not even close to championship tennis.  After being out of the game with a health scare for a year she now knows the value of life.  She didn’t care that she didn’t play her best or even very well.

It is known that this is one of the most emotional moments in Serena’s career.  She continues, “For me it wasn’t about winning the match.  It was about being out there.”

Williams had never lost any first round match during a Grand Slam out of her 44 tries.  She has won the title four times before, two of which were the last two years.  She has won 13 major titles in total.  She has also ranked as the world’s number one player for 123 weeks of her career.

But the last year has been a very tough one for her.  While in Germany she cut her foot on broken glass in a restaurant.  She ended up having to have to surgeries to repair one tendon.  To top it off she has suffered from blood clots in both of her lungs and also a hematoma which she ended up having to have surgery for that as well.

Some fans of tennis have stated that they do not believe that Serena loves tennis or that she doesn’t even care to play tennis when compared to legends before her time.  Tennis lovers now believe that this could not be possible.   People believed that there was not a reason for Serena to come back to Wimbledon this year so soon after such major surgeries.  Serena had to take an injection just before she was able to board her plane.

Serena says, “I love playing tennis”.  She didn’t want to sit home and imagine the end of her career as being fabulous.

Some people believe it’s a maybe whether Serena can win Wimbledon.  She often served at 117 mph as well as second serves which were 101 mph aces.  She had some great forehands as well as some clunkers.  Her return of serve lacked timing.  When she had to move she was not as responsive as she normally would be.

On the flip side Serena has done worse than this…much worse.  Even while performing at her worse she was still able to win.

In 2007 while in Australia no one could imagine her beating anyone.  She slowly played her way through the tournament to win the title.  She joked that now she is happy and “now I can have a baby.”  That was meant to be a joke.  She adds, “I haven’t quite accomplished everything.”

The Champion Mavericks Celebrate

Champion Mavericks Celebrate

The Dallas Mavericks celebrated throughout the sun-baked streets lined with fans in downtown Dallas.  Then they moved the party to the inside of the American Airlines Center for the final championship celebration.  Dirk Nowitzki, the NBA Finals MVP, coach Rick Carlisle and owner Mark Cuban as well as the entire Dallas Mavericks team brought joy to the thousands of fans as they showed up on the balcony which overlooks the arena’s south end which is knows as Victory Plaza.

With cheers coming wildly from the crowd, they rushed forward so they could get a closer look at their 2010-11 NBA Champions.  Cuban cradled the championship trophy in one arm and held a microphone in one hand as he thanked the fans for their never ending support.  The crowd chanted “MVP! MVP!” to the shaggy haired Nowitzki, who lifted his extremely long arms into the blue sky spread-eagle style.

Cuban then passed the microphone to Nowitzki.  Nowitzki was wearing a “Raise the Banner’ white championship T-shirt.  His sleeves were rolled up to his shoulders and his grin seemed to stretch as wide as the plaza which was packed full of his fans.

Cheers grew even louder as their man of the hour as he asked the crowd to belt out an oldie but goody favorite: “We are the Champions.”  His unpolished singing voice cracked with the loud plaza speakers as thousands of his closest friends joined him in the song, without music but in a very moving serenade.

Then a bad that was playing in the plaza for fans and who did not join the guest mated 200,000 people on the parade route began playing the sound while the sing-a-long reached a magical upsurge.

“It’s unbelievable,” Nowitzki said before boarding his parade float with his teammates Jason Terry and Jason Kidd. “If it hasn’t sunk in yet, it will now. … We’re on the top of the world now so it feels amazing. For 13 years I’ve waited for this moment. It’s amazing and we’re all going to enjoy it.”

Fans filled the sidewalks along the streets for roughly a mile on the route between the arena and the convention center.  The franchise’s founder Donald Carter along with his wife Linda it was a joyous occasion.  Carter started the club as a gift to his wife.  They lead the parade in a white convertible.

Philadelphia Eagle Quarterback Michael Vick Shocks Two Graduates With $5,000 Scholarships

Michael Vick Shocks Graduates

Just before starting his first commencement speech Michael Vick admitted to being more nervous than before any football game.  Vick was surprised at the warm reception he received with the crowd of hundreds cheering him throughout his speech meant for graduates at the alternative Camelot high schools in the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia on Friday.

The crowds cheered even louder as Vick shocked two graduates with a $5,000 scholarship each.   Redemption was the center of the celebration for both NFL’s ex-convict Michael Vick and 450 graduates who suffer from emotional, academic or disciplinary issues.  Vick met privately with some students before his speech where they shared intimate details about being given a second chance for a diploma after a troubled past brought them into the alternative schools.

Vick is able to sympathize with the students troubled past as he speaks to them about his opportunity for a second chance after he served 18 months in prison for charges surrounding dog fights.  Vick is trying to rebuild his image through speeches against animal cruelty to community groups and to schools.  On Friday, the crowd sounded to be supportive of Vick’s admissions to his past and his search for rebuilding himself and making something good happen out of the situation where he found himself front and center and in trouble with the law.

Vick proudly admits to being a changed man and encouraged the previously troubled students to be instruments of change.  He encourages them that they can do it just like he is doing it now.

As Vick announced the scholarships and the recipients of the two scholarships shock filled the crowd as no one was aware of what Vick planned to do for these students.  One of the scholarship recipients will be attending Penn State and the other will be going to Virginia Union University in Richmond.

Soccer Flowing With Scandals And Scoundrels

Soccer Flowing With Scandals

People involved in the current FIFA/CONCACAF scandal are a dirty bunch of SOBs (Sons of Ben).  After sifting through many articles from the British tabloids and reading firsthand from ex-officials and also talking to a few people close to the situation I have come to that conclusion.

I don’t know why I am surprised.  After all it’s only sports politics and we all know that anything involving politics will carry an undercurrent of corruption.  However, I don’t believe anyone expecting to see scandals as rampant in soccer as what we have seen over the past few weeks.

To those of you who don’t know what we are referring to, here’s the breakdown:

Despite an investigation for his suspected knowledge of shady backdoor deals around the awarding of the 2022 World Cup, Joseph “Sepp” Blatter was overwhelmingly re-elected Wednesday for another 4-year term as president by delegates from FIFA, the world’s governing body for soccer. Blatter, who has presided over the Swiss-based organization since 1998, won without opposition, despite people urging the English Football Association to delay the vote until a suitable opponent was found.

That request was denied.

Blatter had faced opposition from Mohamed bin Hammam, former president of the Asian Football Confederation. Hammam got out of the race on Sunday, amid allegations of bribing Caribbean citizens upward of $1 million for votes to favor him becoming FIFA’s new president.

Blatter was cleared of bribery allegations shortly before the vote.

In our own backyard, CONCACAF, soccer’s governing body in North and Central America and the Caribbean is also under scrutiny.  After president Jack Warner was accused of offering $40,000 each to several FIFA executive committee members in exchange for voting for bin Hammam. Warner once was fined for improperly exploitation in the sale of 2002 World Cup tickets and has a long history of shady deals.

Both bin Hammam and Warner were suspended by FIFA Sunday, pending the results of a full investigation.  Both deny any wrongdoing.

CONCACAF general secretary and treasurer Chuck Blazer – a man who could don a red suit to play Santa Claus at any mall in America – put Warner’s antics on blast, looking to emerge

Halladay Shows Why He’s The Best, Yet Clunkers In D.C.

Roy Halladay Clunker

Every once in a while, things like this just happen in baseball.

Because of the nature of the game, even the best hitter or pitcher can come up with a mysterious clunker.

But, things like that hardly ever happen to Roy Halladay.

When they do happen to Halladay, they appear a little extra weird.

It is the bottom of the seventh inning when the Phillies’ who would beat the Washington Nationals 5-4 looked like it was going to be a Theatre of the Weird and Bizarre.

In the top half of the seventh inning the Phillies’ bats helped to bail Halladay out of their deficit for the second time that day.  Washington put an early 2-0 lead on the board, but the Phillies scored three runs in the fourth inning.  Washington took a 4-3 lead when the Phillies rebounded with two runs to put them up 5-4.

In his previous 31 starts, Halladay was 26-3 in games where the Phillies had given him the lead.

Halladay was on the path to not let the Nationals gain the lead for the third time during this game.

And suddenly there it was.

Alex Cora blooped a lead-off double and Ian Desmond had reached base on a bunt to give Washington’s runners first and third and no one out with the top of the batting order coming up to the plate.

Then, just like magic, the Nationals found themselves with a harsh reminder of why Halladay is the best pitcher in baseball no questions.

Rick Ankiel hit a hard grounder that Halladay’s throwing had guided him toward. Halladay slapped down the ball and picked it up in time to get Cora.  Cora had strayed into no-man’s land off third base finding himself in a rundown. The putout went Halladay to his catcher Carlos Ruiz to their third baseman Placido Polanco. Just as critical, Desmond was not able to move from second to third base.

Danny Espinosa then hit a fly to left that was a second out.

Then Halladay threw out $126 million man and his former teammate Jayson Werth to make the third out.

“It was a grind,” said Halladay, who threw 111 pitches in a game that started out at 92 degrees and reached 95, with a heat index as high as 99. “You’re not used to it getting that hot and humid. Fortunately, we did enough offensively. They picked me up a couple of times with comebacks.”