Even More Rants, Raves, and Opinions

Many sporting events dotted the world this past week. The golf world crowned a U.S. Open champion for the 110th time, The FIFA World Cup is in full kick, the National Basketball Association playoffs finished with the Los Angeles Lakers defeating the Boston Celtics in a 7 game series, and Major League Baseball divisional races began to heat up.

With those and many more happenings, I feel it's time to let some steam out of my system as I rant, rave, and opine about what is in my craw regarding sports.

Here we go!

Congratulations Graeme McDowell, but...

The 110th playing of the U.S. Open golf championship at Pebble Beach crowned Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell as it new champion, the first ever from his country and first European since Tony Jacklin in 1970. However, Graeme was not the best player amongst the leaders on the final day. France's Gregory Havret, the 391st ranked player, carded what was to be a nifty one-over par 72 with the steadiest play of all. While big stars Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, and Phil Mickelson along with McDowell stumbling along, Havret seemed cool as he made many pars and the few bogeys he made actually didn't deter him greatly, including the the 17th hole bogey...everybody else did the same. Had Havret birdied the stunning par 5 18th, McDowell's strategy changes from a second shot lay up to going for the green in two where anything could have happened.

Kudos to Gregory Havret!

Highway Robbery in South Africa!

The U.S. Soccer team played an extremely poor opening half against underdog Slovenia to trail 2-0. But goals from Landon Donovan and Mike Bradley knotted the game at 2-2 with the U.S. Seizing complete control. Then on a free kick, Maurice Edu scored what appeared to be the game winner and all was well, until the referee from Mali called a phantom foul on the U.S. nullifying the goal. To this moment, nobody knows what the foul was and who committed that foul. Algeria is the U.S. Soccer team's final round robin opponent and a win is crucial to say the least.

The ref's a bum!

Kobe is King

The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Boston Celtics in decisive game 7 83-79 to capture NBA title number 16, one fewer than the Celtics. Kobe Bryant, the playoff MVP, now has a championship ring for his thumb (5) and has cemented his place in NBA history. Bryant is the NBA's best player, proving that he can help the Lakers in other ways when he is having a poor shooting performance. His defense, rebounding, and ball distribution was vital to victory in the game 7 showdown.

Long live the King!


A Team Built on Run Prevention

The Boston Red Sox are currently the hottest team in Major League Baseball. Since losing 9 of 13 to begin the season, the Red Sox sport a big league best 39-19 record since. Boston General Manager Theo Epstein built the club on run prevention...giving up fewer runs with better pitching and defense while sacrificing offense. The additions of Gold Glove third sacker Adrian Beltre, shortstop Marco Scutaro, and past Gold Glover center fielder Mike Cameron were to bear this approach to fruition. Apparently, this is working wonderfully well.

Or is it?

Defensively, Boston is 4th in the AL in fielding percentage,but yet are in the middle of the pack in errors as they have committed forty-three and have given up a whopping 75 stolen bases, easily the most in the majors.

In the pitching department, the Sox have a 4.22 ERA which is only 19th in baseball and given up 325 runs, 11th in baseball, 5th in the American League. That isn't great but not too bad either.

Now for the sacrificing of offense;

Boston has scored 390 runs, slugged to a .468 percentage, have 275 extra-base hits, and an OPS of .821...all major league BESTS! The Red Sox are also 2nd behind Toronto for the most home runs,2nd in average to Kansas City in batting average in all of baseball, and are 3rd in all of baseball in on-base percentage. As a Sox fan, that's a sacrifice of offense I can handle.

Dick

Send email to dlafrance2@207me.com

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Some Athletes Websites – Part 2

In my last post, I presented some Websites of athletes from the sports of baseball and football. This post will contain sites from basketball and hockey players that I hope you will enjoy. I scan through many sites and keep just a few to view time and again.

So let's have a look at hoops and pucks sites shall we?

Basketball

Kobe Bryant – Although still in progress, “kb24.com” looks as though it could be a great official site for all Kobe fans. Some pages such as features, schedule, and media are still under construction, but I get a sense that these will be well worth the wait. You can sign up for the Kobe Basketball Academy and shop for Kobe Bryant merchandise as well. This Website looks clean and uncluttered so I suspect the finished product will be easy on the eyes.

Dwyane Wade - “D Wade's” official site “dwyanewade3.com” is well organized and easy to navigate with tabs at the top of the home page to get to Wade's blog, articles, profile, foundation, and so on. Wade's World Foundation benefits disadvantaged kids in both south Florida and his native Chicago promoting education, health, and social skills and awareness. Definitely worth a gander.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – Kareem's official Website “kareemabduljabbar.com” is nice and clean with many quotes from Kareem, his legendary college coach John Wooden, and others. This site also features Jabbar's appearance schedule, his film about the Harlem Rens , the first all black professional team, and his Skyhook Foundation. I feel the section on the Harlem Rens is worth the the Websites weight in gold.

Larry Bird - The official Website of Larry Bird “larrybird.com” is a compilation of Larry's career including his bio, statistics, store, and multimedia. All you want to know about Bird is here!

Magic Johnson - “magicjohnson.org” is a two fold Website that features Magic Johnson Enterprises, serving multicultural communities, and The Magic Johnson Foundation, developing programs and education, health, and social awareness in ethnically diverse urban areas. Nothing about basketball whatsoever on this site which may disappoint some, but gives a clear vision of what the man is about.

Hockey

Martin Brodeur - The NHL's all-time winningest goalie's Website “martinbrodeur30.com” is a great site about Marty's career stats, bio, video clips, and a section call Dad's Corner featuring Martin's dad Denis, a sports photographer, about the stories and interviews with Marty. Brodeur's Website includes his charitable works, most notably his Martin Brodeur Center for young athletes near his home area near Drummondville Quebec. As a bonus, Marty's site is done in both English and French.

Mike Modano – Long time Dallas Stars superstar Mike Modano's site “mikemodano.com” has what most athlete sites does --- a career section, photo gallery, a fan zone, etc. Modano also has a section called “Mike's Favorites” in which Modano shares his favorite type of music, movies, and golf courses to nae a few. Mike's charity, The Mike Modano Foundation focuses on child abuse and how he helps those children. Very well organized, “mikemodano.com” is well worth a peek.

Bobby Orr – The legendary defenseman's Website “bobbyorr.com” is basically a huge online store. In conjunction with Great North Road America, the store is full of Bobby's memorabilia including jerseys, signed and unsigned items, and more. The site also has sections with Orr's bio, career statistics, awards, and his charitable works (although not listed). Any fan of Bobby Orr will enjoy going back in time.

Wayne Gretzky - “The Great One's” site “www.gretzky.com” has more than most athlete sites. Of course there's the career page, store, and so on, but Wayne has now a line of wines that you can view at the Website. The Wayne Gretzky Foundation provides less fortunate youths to experience the game of hockey by donating equipment, ice time and going to see games. An excellent Website for all hockey fans.

Mario Lemieux – Mario's site “mariolemieux.org” is a dedication to The Mario Lemieux Foundation to find a cure for cancer, stemming from Lemieux's own battle with Hodgkin's disease. You can research some of his programs to help cancer patients and check his celebrity golf tournament too. The last tab is about his hockey career, but the site's purpose is on his foundation. A great way to give back to the community.

That concludes the basketball/hockey Website post. May you enjoy them and let me know of other sites of interest.

Dick

Send email to dlafrance2@207me.com

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