Sports Highlights

NBA | NFL | MLB | NHL | NCAAF | NCAAB | Soccer | Other

Second Unit Success Carmelo Anthony and Deron Williams put aside their future borough rivalry for a huge spark off the bench for the USA side on Tuesday evening against a 55 point underdog in Tunisia. After Coach K yanked the entire first team after a lack luster performance in the first quarter, he quickly went to his entire second unit in Carmelo Anthony, Deron Williams, Russell Westbrook, Andre Iguadala, and Kevin Love whose high energy, defensive aggressiveness and physical dominance helped to wake up the American side and once again bring notice to the rest of the world of which team is here to win gold.  Coach K was so pleased with the performance of this unit that he even went with them to start the second half and it payed massive dividends as Team USA opened the half on a 21-3 run to blow the game open and get back to a comfortable position. Kevin Durant, the USA starting forward had this to say, ”That was a great lift, man. That’s the best thing about this team, there’s no drop off,” said Durant. “We’ve got All-Stars off the bench. Those guys did a great job for us.” To me, this is why this team is unbeatable, regardless of the lack of size, because on any given night someone is bound to take off for a high scoring performance. On this given evening it showed how even when the brightest stars in the sports world may not be on their A game, there are perennial all stars who are ready to fill right in and take the reigns as leader for the night. 

Second Unit Success Carmelo Anthony and Deron Williams put aside their future borough rivalry for a huge spark off the bench for the USA side on Tuesday evening against a 55 point underdog in Tunisia. After Coach K yanked the entire first team after a lack luster performance in the first quarter, he quickly went to his entire second unit in Carmelo Anthony, Deron Williams, Russell Westbrook, Andre Iguadala, and Kevin Love whose high energy, defensive aggressiveness and physical dominance helped to wake up the American side and once again bring notice to the rest of the world of which team is here to win gold. 

Coach K was so pleased with the performance of this unit that he even went with them to start the second half and it payed massive dividends as Team USA opened the half on a 21-3 run to blow the game open and get back to a comfortable position. Kevin Durant, the USA starting forward had this to say, ”That was a great lift, man. That’s the best thing about this team, there’s no drop off,” said Durant. “We’ve got All-Stars off the bench. Those guys did a great job for us.”

To me, this is why this team is unbeatable, regardless of the lack of size, because on any given night someone is bound to take off for a high scoring performance. On this given evening it showed how even when the brightest stars in the sports world may not be on their A game, there are perennial all stars who are ready to fill right in and take the reigns as leader for the night. 

Slammed While former Yankees AJ Burnett was on the cusp of a no-hitter last night, the Yankees continued their recent poor play last night. To cap off a seven run inning, Orioles First Baseman Chris Davis, a man with power and not much else, jacked a grand slam to take the lead over the first place Yanks 7-5. That would be all the Orioles needed to seal the victory.

I understand that the Yankees have a healthy lead in the East and don’t really need to worry about the Rays or Sox, but the Rangers and Angels only improved at the deadline, so the Yankees better pick up their play if they want home field advantage through the ALCS. Joba Chamberlain was activated last night, so maybe his return will fortify their bullpen and help steady the Yankees as they power through the last third of the season.

Run Jimmy Run In impressive fashion for a man of his advanced age, Jimmy Rollins legged out a two run inside the park home run yesterday to break the game open against the first place Nationals.

But the title of this post isn’t about the home run, its referring to the fact that Jimmy should do whatever he can to get the hell out of Philadelphia. Yesterday at the trade deadline they traded away two thirds of their outfield in Hunter Pence and Shane Victorino, their “three kings” pitching staff is aging, and their former cornerstones of the lineup in Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Rollins are too old at this point to make up for the rest of their mediocre teammates. 

Durant Showing Kevin Durant led the USA national team over rivals Argentina 86-80 yesterday afternoon in Barcelona while sporting the 92’ Dream Team jerseys. Besides a late push from the veteran Argentinian team late, which presents many NBA players such as, Manu Ginobili, Luis Scola, Carlos Delfino, Andres Nocioni, and newly acquired New York Knicks point guard, 35-year-old, Pablo Prigioni, the Americans really handled this game well and were in control for most of it behind Durant’s lights out shooting from beyond the arc as he finished with 27 points. 

Many of the players for Team USA were satisfied with the game and happy they got some real competition before enterting the London games as Bryant said after the game, ”It’s tough. Argentina’s a very good team, very tough-minded,” Kobe said. “They continue to play hard and for us it was a big challenge to try to put the game away, we could just never do it.”

Team USA will face its toughest competition yet on Wednesday when they have their final exhibition game vs the #2 ranked Spanish side that will definitely give Team USA some trouble with their size as they play behind both Gasol brothers and Serge Ibaka. It will be interesting to see what type of line-ups are presented and how this game plays out between these two teams as neither side wants to show too much before the real games but both sides want to send a message before the London Games begin. Be sure to tune in to that one. 

Severely Pennalized After the Freeh report came out on July 12th, it was only a matter of time before the NCAA came down with a harsh punishment for the Penn State football program. And wow, they did come down with a hammer.

All wins since 1998 have been taken away, not to mention a four year postseason ban and more than 60 million dollars worth of fines. Damn, that’s basically going to kill this program. Gotta feel for the kids there, even if they are allowed to transfer with no penalty. Actually, new Coach Bill O Brien definitely has it the worst, he left the Patriots Offensive Coordinator Job to come here, bet he’d want to take that decision back now.

When I look at these penalties, I don’t know what to make of them. On one hand, the people at Penn State made horrible, immoral decisions, that let a monster like Jerry Sandusky continue to abuse kids for ten more years before he got caught. My only concern is that this is a legal matter, not a competitive advantage one, and I’m wondering if these penalties are more to please the media than anything else. Anyway, I’m glad the Paterno statue was removed, and as someone who has never really liked Penn St, I can’t say I am upset that they just got the worst possible punishment besides the Death Penalty.

July 23rd 1995: On this Day in Sports History… John Daly beat Constantino Rocca in a playoff to capture the 1995 British Open, his second career major championship. Unfortunately, this would be the peak of John’s career, and he would never come close to reaching these heights again. Despite his considerable talent, Daly fell off the golf map pretty quickly because of his excessive drinking and weight. However, Daly still has quite a cult following because he represents the everyman golfer, I mean check out his mullet in this video…definitely screams “everyman”.

Heavy Burden Matt Kemp is a superstar, and arguably the best player in baseball, but unless the Dodgers get some help before the trade deadline, they are not going to make the playoffs. He just has to do too much for the team. In last nights game, he makes an amazing throw to gun down Ryan Howard at the plate, preserving the 2-1 Dodgers lead. But his team’s pitching blows it and they lose 3-2 to the Phils. There are rumors that the Dodgers may go after Ryan Dempster or Shane Victorino, for Kemp’s case, lets hope these moves actually happen. (For more, go to mlb.com)

Heavy Burden Matt Kemp is a superstar, and arguably the best player in baseball, but unless the Dodgers get some help before the trade deadline, they are not going to make the playoffs. He just has to do too much for the team. In last nights game, he makes an amazing throw to gun down Ryan Howard at the plate, preserving the 2-1 Dodgers lead. But his team’s pitching blows it and they lose 3-2 to the Phils. There are rumors that the Dodgers may go after Ryan Dempster or Shane Victorino, for Kemp’s case, lets hope these moves actually happen.

(For more, go to mlb.com)

PLAY OF THE DAY Division 2 guard, Angelo Sharpless of Elizabeth City State University had one of the greatest in game dunks I’ve ever seen in a summer league game yesterday afternoon. He takes the award for play of the day and might even take the cake for play of the summer. 

Source blip.tv

Rousing Return His second game back in Fenway Park went even better for Kevin Youkilis than the first one where he had 3 hits and receiving a standing ovation before the game. In this contest, he hit a booming home run over the Green Monster, a three run shot that ended up being the difference in the game. It was a big win for the White Sox who are trying to hold off the surging Tigers in the AL central. As for the Red Sox, this loss does not help their bid to snag one of the two wild card spots.

(For more, go to mlb.com)

This Day In Sports History: July 18th 1927… On This day in sports history, Ty Cobb set a Major League Baseball record by recording his 4,000th hit of his career. He would eventually go on to finish his career with 4,191 hits when he retired in 1928.

This incredible accomplishment is still widely known and appreciated in the world of sports, especially baseball where since retiring, only one man has ever been able to record more hits then Cobb in their career which is Pete Rose with 4,256. 

Houstanity The “Lin” era is officially over in New York as of 11:59 E.T. last night the Knicks did not match the offer sheet that Jeremy Lin signed with Houston which officially makes him a Rocket. Since free agency began all signs pointed to the fact that the Knicks were going to match any offer that was presented to them for Lin, however, when they made the surprised sign and trade with Portland to receive veteran point guard, Raymond Felton, eyebrows began to be raised. 

As it turns out for any reason that we are unsure of yet, James Dolan, the Knicks owner, and the rest of the front office decided for whatever reason to go down a different path as they feel that the duo of Kidd and Felton is more then enough to compensate for the loss of Lin. 

After being silent for quite a while, Lin tweeted last night, ”Much love and thankfulness to the Knicks and New York for your support this past year…easily the best year of my life#ForeverGrateful.” This will defiantly be a side story all year and I’m sure every New Yorker will be following his every step this year to see what he truly is capable of for a full season. 

Presidential Mandate One of the highlights of the night in Washington when the United States basketball team took on Brazil was the presence of Barack Obama. Through his halftime speech which was amazing, the President talked up his skills and knowledge of the game of basketball and even gave his two cents on the heated debate this country has been having the past few weeks. Obama stated on the matter of the ‘92 team vs the 2012 team the following, “This is a generational thing. I was around in ‘92, I was a Bulls fan, so I’ve got to go with the original Dream Team.”

Who do you think would win the game?

(Go to espn.com for more coverage)

Some Mayo For the Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks and free agent, O.J. Mayo have come to an agreement on a one-year deal with a player option for the second year that will bring Mayo to Dallas. Mayo has averaged 15.2 points a game for his career, but has been slowed down by his reduced bench role on the Grizzles. He will be eager to show his full arsenal in Dallas and definitely has the potential to blossom into a star down in Texas. 

Mayo tweeted, ”I will be signing with dallas! #Mavsnation.” Not long after, Mavs owner Mark Cuban tweeted: “Welcome to the family OJ. We are fired up !! MFFL Mavs/Mayo Fan For Life.” 

Mark Cuban and Donnie Nelson have quickly turned around a disastrous offseason in which he lost pretty much every key piece to the championship team from two years ago besides Dirk, into a team that can definitely compete for a playoff spot this year with young and up and coming point guard, Darren Collison, veteran big men, Chris Kaman and Elton Brand as well as Dahntay Jones. On top of all these signings, he has also managed to save a lot of cap space for next years free agency period where they plan to go after some big name players. 

Tough Break Yesterday, the Reds announced that Joey Votto will be out for 3-4 weeks after he had minor surgery on his knee. The Reds are in a tight race in the NL Central and the last thing they need is to lose one of their top players, especially Joey Votto, their best hitter by far. Another interesting piece to this injury is that the favorite for NL MVP is now out for a month. This may not knock him out of the race, but it definitely will not help his candidacy. His injury now may open the door for a guy like Andrew McCutchen, David Wright or maybe Ryan Braun? Just kidding Ryan, you’ll never win anything again with that steroid stink on you, that includes the hall of fame by the way.