February 27th update

Daytona 500 rained out for first time

• The Super Bowl of Nascar, the Daytona 500, was supposed to take place Sunday, marking the beginning of the Nascar season, but the rain came down too hard, making it impossible for Nascar officials to clear the track up in time to start the race. The race will commence at Noon on this afternoon instead, making it much tougher for fans to catch the race.
• It was the first time in more than 50 years that the race had been postponed, and Jimmie Johnson summed it up with a good quote saying, I guess the deal [Nascar owner] had with the man upstairs was put on hold this year.
• It will still be a great race with lots of fanfare but there will be significantly fewer in the stands and it's expected that teams will have a rough time getting all the way across the country to Phoenix by Thursday for the next race since they would generally have left Sunday night but instead will have to leave late Monday afternoon. Carl Edwards, who barely lost the 2011 championship to Tony Stewart, has the pole (or leading) position when the race starts.


West Wins Climactic All-Star Game

• The Western Conference won the 2012 NBA All-Star game 152-149, the highest ever combined score in an All-Star game. Both Kevin Durant (for the West) and LeBron James (for the East) scored 36 points leading their respective teams. Durant won the MVP, most likely just because his side won. This game, that usually focuses on offense, saw much better defense being played towards the very end, especially by the East.
• The West had a major lead most of the game, and had a 20 point lead in the 4th quarter, but Dwayne Wade, Carmelo Anthony and James led a furious comeback and the East had the ball with 16 seconds left and a chance to tie or take the lead. Deron Williams missed a 3-point shot that would have given the East a lead and then Wade missed a last second 3 that would have tied the game at the buzzer.
• Kobe Bryant scored 27 points to move past Michael Jordan for first place on the All Star Scoring list. His 14 All-Star Game appearances is equal to Jordan as well, but still short of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s record 19 games.
• On Saturday, Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love won the 3-point contest, and Utah Jazz forward Jeremy Evans won the Slam Dunk Competition.


As we approach March Madness in College Hoops, Sportico will be recapping the NCAA season.

Big Weekend in the Big 12

• Having two of the top 4 teams in the country (at least as of this weekend) the Big 12 arguably has the best chance to win a National Championship.
• We have previously written about Baylor, but the Bears have slipped recently allowing for Missouri and Kansas to jump to the top of the Conference. This past weekend these two teams played for the second time this season. Kansas avenged an earlier season loss defeating Missouri 87-86 in overtime. All three of these teams have good chances to make it through the second weekend of the NCAA tournament, and send at least one representative to the Final Four in New Orleans.
• While Kansas has been a national power for years on the College Basketball scene, Missouri is a relative newcomer, entering the top ranks for the first time in a long while. This success is built on an explosive offense and a very experienced roster. Of the 5 players who play the most, 4 are Seniors and the other is a Junior.

June 10th update

Roberto Luongo shaky for a second straight game

- Boston ties up the Stanley Cup finals 2-2 with a 4-0 win behind a strong performance by star goaltender Tim Thomas.

- Both teams' goaltenders have won the Vezina Trophy, given annually to Hockey's best goalie, but over the past two games Vancouver Goalie Roberto Luongo has allowed 12 goals, a massive number for any two game span, let alone two in the finals.

- Luongo brought back memories of the Canucks first round series in which, after being up 3-0 to the Chicago Blackhawks, Luongo forgot how to stop the puck allowing in 11 goals over the next 2 games. He did not play an entire game again until game 7 which Vancouver won 2-1.


Mavs close to within 1 win of NBA title

- The Mavericks were on fire from the 3 point line, making 68% (13-19), which was one short of the record for 3 pointers made in the NBA Finals. Dirk Nowitzki only made 1 3 pointer but led the team with 29 points overall.

- Lebron James had a triple double (at least 10 points, rebounds and assists) but only scored 17. It was the second straight subpar scoring game for James, who has only 25 combined in his last 2 games, despite averaging 28 points per game in his playoff career. He hasn't scored more than 2 points in the 4th quarter since Game 1, when he scored 5.

- Dwayne Wade scored 23 points but suffered a hip injury in the first half that may make him less effective for the remainder of the series. Earlier Thursday afternoon, Wade and James poked fun at reports that Dirk Nowitzki had been sick during game 4.


Final Leg of Horse Racing Triple Crown to be held Saturday

- The race will be held at 6:30 EST but will not feature a Triple Crown winner, as different horses have already been victorious in the first 2 legs. There has not been a Triple Crown winner since 1978 when Affirmed won all 3.

- Animal Kingdom, the Kentucky Derby winner is listed as the favorite at 2-1. Nehro and Shackleford, the Preakness winner, are among the other front runners.

- Also called the "Run for Carnations," because the winning horse is blanketed in white carnations, the Belmont is among the biggest gambling events in the United States annually.

June 8th update

Pryor to drop out of Ohio State
- Terrelle Pryor, the highly touted Ohio State Quarterback, has declared he will not return to school for his senior season as fallout over an NCAA investigation (and to a lesser extent badly timed traffic violations) continues to ravage one of the top collegiate football programs in the country

- The scandal, in which several OSU players used their popularity to get cheap or free goods and services from area businesses, has already led to the resignation of popular and successful coach Jim Tressel, who lied about knowledge of these incidents. Additionally, Pryor and 4 other teammates were already suspended for the first 5 games of the 2011-12 season.

- Pryor is expected to try and enter the NFL through its supplemental draft, a rarely-used secondary player selection process where players with sketchy histories have historically made their way into the professional football ranks.

- Despite being the quarterback at a major college program, a lot of NFL scouts feel that he will be a Wide Receiver in the NFL due to his athleticism and size.


Mavs tie NBA Finals 2-2 in another thriller
- The Dallas Mavericks tied the NBA Finals 2-2 with an 86-83 victory in what has become one of the most tightly contested series in recent memory.

- Dirk Nowitzki scored 21 points including 10 in the 4th quarter despite having a high fever. He's drawing comparisons to Michael Jordan, who scored 37 points and led the Bulls to a win in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals despite playing with a 103 degree fever.

- Dwayne Wade came through with another big game but missed a potential game tying free throw with under a minute left and fumbled the inbounds pass on the final play of the game which led to a wild, missed 3 pointer by Mike Miller.

- Lebron James only scored 8 points, the first time he has failed to score in double digits in his playoff career.

- The last 26 times the NBA Finals has been tied at 2-2, the winner of game 5 has won the series 19 times.


Bruins crush Canucks to get on the board in Stanley Cup
- The Boston Bruins finally broke through the Vancouver Canucks defense and continued to pound the back of the net, winning game 3 of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals, 8-1, but in the process, they lost one of their best players for the rest of the series.

- A vicious, blindside hit on Bruins right wing Nathan Horton, the Bruins 4th leading scorer in the regular season, left him with a concussion and out of the rest of the Finals. Vancouver's Aaron Rome, who laid the hit, was suspended for 4 games which would cover the extent of the Finals as well. It's the first time a player has been suspended for more than 1 Stanley Cup Finals game.

- The Bruins finally broke through the Vancouver defense and continued to pound the back of the net, winning game 3 of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals, 8-1. Vancouver still holds a series lead of 2-1, but this win was desperately needed by the Bruins as 3-0 series deficits are rarely overcome.

- In their past 5 Stanley Cup appearances, the Bruins have only won a total of 5 games, never winning more than 2 games in any one series.

June 6th update

Na, Nadal victorious in French Open
- The French Open concluded over the weekend with Rafael Nadal defeating Roger Federer 7-5, 7-6, 5-7, 6-1 and Li Na (pictured) beating Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 7-6.

- Na is the first Chinese athlete, male or female, to win one of the four tennis majors (The Australian Open, Wimbledon, The French Open and the U.S. Open).

- According to a CBS news story, she received over 300'000 messages on her website within 4 minutes of her victory.

- With his victory, Nadal became the 7th man to win 10 majors, including 4 of the past 5. Federer has the most all-time with 16.

- Novak Djokovic lost in the semifinals to Federer ending his 43 match win streak. He had not lost since November of last year, also to Federer.


Heat beat Mavs behind Bosh's late shot
- The Miami Heat barely survived another late rally by the Dallas Mavericks to win game 3 of the NBA Finals, 88-86. They now have a 2-1 lead in the best of seven series.

- Chris Bosh made the game-winning shot with 39.6 seconds left and Dirk Nowitzki had 2 chances to tie it, but threw a bad pass out of bounds the first time and missed a jump shot the second time as time expired.

- Dirk Nowitzki finished with 34 points and Dwayne Wade had 29, but Lebron James had an off night, only scoring 17 points.

- Under the current scheduling format, the team that wins game 3 when the NBA Finals are tied 1-1 has gone on to win the championship 11 out of 11 times.


Pujols rounding into form
Albert Pujols hit a game winning home run for the second straight game as the Cardinals beat the Cubs 3-2 on Sunday. Pujols now has 4 home runs in his last 3 games and looks to be getting back into form after a shaky first 2 months of the season.

- After his game on May 29th, the exact 1/3 point of the season, Pujols had only 8 home runs, 28 RBI's and a .257 batting average. All would be career lows by a significant amount.

- Rebounding is even more important than usual as Pujols is in his contract year, meaning that his contract expires after this season and he can become a free agent if he does not sign an extension before then. He has reportedly been asking for a new 10 year-$300 million dollar contract, but the Cardinals have balked and some have theorized that his poor start is due to distractions caused by the contract issues.