February 10th update

Lin taking Big Apple by storm

• Of all the big stars to make a splash in New York, absolutely nobody was predicting that Jeremy Lin would add himself to that list. If you haven't followed the NBA for the past week, you'd be completed justified in asking, "Who is Jeremy Lin? I've never heard of him."
• Lin, a end-of-the bench backup for the New York Knicks before this week started who played in the Developmental League and was released by the Houston Rockets, was inserted early into the Knicks-Nets game on Saturday because they've had inconsistent play at the guard spots and immediately made an impact. He's started 2 games since then and made a few highlight reel plays already, had the MSG crowd chant 'MVP' for him and has scored at least 23 points and dished out 7 assists in all 3 games the Knicks have played, stringing back to Saturday. He's the only player to do that in his first 2 starts other than Lebron James in the past 9 years.
• Lin is probably the least likely NBA star possible, a short Chinese-American who was born in Palo Alto, California (where Stanford is) and going to Harvard for college, you would think he'd be an academic not an athlete. But here he is, making a giant splash in a city where anything less is unacceptable. He has a long way to go to equal the likes of Derek Jeter or Eli Manning for the heart of New York but he's already gone a long ways toward passing the disappointing Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire in terms of being the most loved Knick. Let's wait to see if he can keep it up.


Supermodel Splitting a Team

• As we reported on Monday the New England Patriots lost the Super Bowl on Sunday when a last minute drive fell just short. In the last couple of drives, two of their receivers (Wes Welker and Deion Branch) dropped very catchable balls that Tom Brady threw. Had these players caught the passes, as they have done for most of this season, the outcome could have been very different.
• To make matters even worse for New England, Tom Brady’s wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen, was taped calling out Welker and Branch. Even though she was supposedly provoked by Giants fans who were trash talking Brady, Bundchen’s comments could possibly cause a rift amidst the Patriots a la Yoko Ono (who she has been compared to by more than one analyst).
• The Bundchen controversy is just one that is effecting the Patriots after the Super Bowl. Injured Tight End Rob Gronkowski was taped dancing (if you can call it dancing) at a team sponsored after party on an injured ankle. Given his performance in the Super Bowl in which he hobbled around, some fans wondered how he was able to jump around with seemingly no pain, and others wonder why he was dancing in the first place, as athletes who lose their title game are unofficially expected to briefly "mourn" for lack of a better term after losing the championship game.


Former Pitcher claims use of cocaine while playing

• Former Boston Red Sox Pitcher Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd claimed that he was high on cocaine for approximately two thirds of the games he pitched. Boyd pitched for 10 seasons from 1982 to 1991.
• He claimed that he used cocaine all over the nation in clubhouses. He also said that all of his teammates knew of his addiction, and a few even made a few attempts to get him help. Boyd claimed that he was able to get away with it because he was never drug tested throughout his career.
• Boyd, whose nickname makes it seem as though he played in the 1880's, not the 1980's (the nickname comes from a slang term for a beer can from his native Mississippi) was known for his use of illicit substances. Boyd is not the only pitcher to claim pitching under the influence of illegal substances. Former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Dock Ellis claimed to have pitched a no-hitter on LSD.

February 3rd update

Super Bowl weekend is here

• After a summer-stealing lockout, 17 weeks of regular season games, and 4 weeks of the postseason the 46th Super Bowl is finally here. The New England Patriots and New York Giants will take the field at Lucas Oil Field in Indianapolis.
• The Patriots, who are slight favorites, will rely on their high powered offense to defeat the Giants. Led by Quarterback Tom Brady and tight end Rob Gronkowski, the Patriots will try to avoid the dangerous pass rush of the Giants defensive line. Gronkowski is currently nursing a high ankle sprain but is expected to play. His health status will play a huge role in how this game turns out.
• The Giants will rely on a devastating pass rush to get to Brady. Their chances to win the game will hinge largely on whether Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, Jason Pierre-Paul and the rest of the gang can harrass Brady. Additionally, Giants quarterback Eli Manning will look to cement his claims made in the preseason that he should be considered an elite quarterback along with Brady. Eli will be looking to take score early and often against the Pats, who feature a wide receiver (Julian Edelman) playing defense.

Sportico’s Predictions
• Anirudh: This game will be won and lost depending on if the Giants defensive line can get to Tom Brady. The Giants offense should be able to score a lot of points against the Patriots patchwork defense, so the ability of the Patriots offense to keep up should determine the game. I do not believe the Patriots will be able to contain the Giants defense, and this will be a repeat of Sl.uper Bowl 42. Giants 38 – Patriots 31.
• Alex: The Patriots are too good to lose to this team again and Bill Belicheck will do the right things at the right time to give his team the edge (he even gave his team a break during practice to simulate halftime. Whether or not the team was forced to listen to Madonna during that break is uncertain). Brady will outduel Eli, who's had a great season but just isn't on Brady's level. Patriots 27 – Giants 17.


NBA names All-Stars

• Less than a week after the NHL and NFL had their All-Star games, the NBA (who was obviously feeling left out) named their All-Star starters on Thursday.
• L.A. will get 4 starters as Chris Paul will and Blake Griffin of the Clippers will join Lakers Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum. Kevin Durant takes the other spot. In the East, leading vote-getter and de facto host Dwight Howard (The game is being played in Orlando, the first time an Eastern conference team has hosted the game since 2003) will be joined by Miami Heat duo Dwayne Wade and Lebron James as well reigning MVP Derrick Rose and Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony.
• The always entertaining game which features dunks-a-plenty and only the occasional lick of defense will be played on February 26th. The Dunk Contest, which many people look forward to more than the game, will be held on February 25th at 8:30. Odds are no one will attempt a car over a parked vehicle (as Blake Griffin did last year) but it should be great nonetheless. The above link will show the participants as soon as they are announced, although they have not been as of the writing of this article.
• Last year Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant combined for 71 points en route to a 148-143 West win and MVP honors for Bryant.

February 1st update

Wednesday Spotlight: Tom Brady

• The golden boy Tom Brady seems to have the perfect life. Quarterback of the best team in the NFL over the past 15 years, married to a Victoria’s secret model, and a lucrative spokesperson position for Uggs' Men's footwear (OK, well 2 out of 3 isn't bad). However, he has come from relative obscurity to be arguably the best QB in the NFL.
• Born and brought up in California, Brady attended the University of Michigan. In Ann Arbor, Brady was a backup for former NFL player Brian Griese, and then battled for two years with Drew Henson (a former major league baseball player who went back to college). Coming out of Michigan, Brady was lightly regarded. Drafted 199 overall in the 2000 draft at the end of the 6th round, Brady spent most of his rookie season as the 4th quarterback on the roster.
• Entering his second season, Brady worked his way up to second on the depth chart. In the second game of the season, the starter Drew Bledsoe suffered a big hit and had some internal bleeding. This gave Brady the chance he needed and he never relinquished the job (other than 2008, when he missed nearly the whole season with a knee injury).
• Brady has won 3 Super Bowls, and will go for his 4th on Sunday in a rematch of the only Super Bowl he has lost, against Eli Manning and the New York Giants. Brady is a 7-time Pro Bowler, a 2 time NFL MVP, and was named the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the year in 2005. Married to Giselle Bundchen, Brady has two children (one with Bundchen). Brady will be a sure fire hall of famer when his career is over, and he will go down as one of the best Quarterbacks in the history of the league.


The sad story of Sid the Kid

• It wasn't too long ago the Sidney Crosby was riding as high as possible, considered the best player in the NHL despite his extreme youth (even now he's only 24) Crosby has already led his Pittsburgh Penguins to two Stanley Cup Finals (the first when he was the ripe old age of 21) and one championship. Crosby also led the league in points in just his second season and won the Hart Trophy (the NHL's MVP at the age of 19). Additionally he scored the winning goal for Canada in the 2010 Winter Olympics against the U.S. making him a hero in Canada, likely for the rest of his life.
• However, recently injuries have done what many thought was impossible, derailing his can't-miss, all-time great career. He suffered a bad concussion last year that caused him to miss nearly the whole season and now he's dealing with another concussion as well as soft tissue damage in his neck that is keeping him out of action, much to the chagrin of Pittsburgh fans and fans of the NHL as a whole.
• Crosby still could make it back and become one of if not the best player in the game today, but with the amount of time he's missed some people wonder if he'll ever return to his past form or if he'll simply become a shadow of his former self. Some are even saying it's time for him to retire because he's dealt with too many injuries and that he's endangering his future quality of life by exposing himself to the violent nature of professional hockey.
• Despite not being huge hockey fans here at Sportico, we can't help but feel bad for Sid and the league as a whole and for the good of both, we hope the Sidney Crosby can skate to the fullest of his abilities as soon as possible.

January 23th update

Giants and Patriots to meet again in Super Bowl

• The New York Giants are back in the Super Bowl after defeating the San Francisco 49ers 20-17 in OT, the second time in 3 years that the NFC championship game has been won on a FG in OT. Vernon Davis caught two long TD passes for the Niners but a fumbled punt in OT put the Giants in prime field position and they used the very short field to allow kicker Lawrence Tynes to make the game clincher quite easily.
• Eli Manning was beaten up all day by the 49ers tough defense, getting sacked 6 times and knocked down 12 times, but he kept popping back up and will now go to his second Super Bowl, this one in Indianapolis, the hometown of his brother Peyton no less (who has only played in one).
• Eli's Giants will go against Peyton's longtime rival, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. It's a rematch of the Super Bowl from 4 years ago when the Patriots entered the game 18-0 needing only one more win to become the first team in NFL history to finish a season 19-0. Instead the Giants upset them, keeping the Patriots from even winning the Super Bowl in a season where they may have been the best team in NFL history.
• The Patriots beat the Baltimore Ravens 23-20 after Ravens WR Lee Evans dropped a game winning touchdown that he had in his hands but was then knocked out by a Patriots defender, and then kicker Billy Cundiff missed a short FG that would have sent the game to OT.
• It was rough day for the Harbaugh family, as brother John and Jim are the head coaches of the two losing teams, the 49ers and the Ravens.


Paterno Dies of Cancer

• Legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno died on Sunday from complications from lung cancer. Paterno, the winningest coach in NCAA football history, passed away less than 2 months after his condition was initially divulged to the public.
• Paterno was fired from his position at PSU earlier this year due to allegations that he covered up child abuse reports involving his former assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky. Whether or not you believe that Paterno should have been fired, or he was unjustly villified, he did plenty of good in his life and we will take some tine to review a bit of that life.
• Paterno and his wife were a fixture in the central Pennsylvania town of College Park. The library on campus, and other buildings on and around campus are named for the family. Patrons of many charities, Paterno and his wife have given countless hours and millions to different charitable organizations.
• Paterno will be remembered as a fantastic football coach and a beloved mentor. The number of lives he changed by giving an opportunity to play football, the number of coaches who have come from his coaching “tree” and the numerous charitable and philanthropic organizations he supported will be the bulk of the footprint Paterno leaves on this earth, to say nothing of the staggering numbers he put up in terms of wins, players drafted into the NFL and bowl game records, the likes of which will very likely never be seen again in the history of football.


USA Soccer has Big Month

• The Olympic qualifying tournament (Jan 20th-Jan 29th) for soccer is underway and the U.S. will try to first of all make the tournament, and then progress further than they have in the past. While the U.S. is not considered a favorite to win, they have been improving and will hope to make some noise. Argentina has won each of the past 2 Olympic tournaments, both in 2004 and 2008.
• The team defeated Venezuela 1-0 Saturday night for their first victory over a South American team since 2007. Much maligned US player Ricardo Clark headed in a corner kick in the 94th minute (extra time) to give the US the victory. It was Clark’s first goal since 2009, and a chance to help forget a blunder in the 2010 World Cup that cost the US team against Ghana.
• Meanwhile, earlier this month across the pond, US superstar Clint Dempsey became the first American to score a hat trick (3 goals) in the English Premier League. Dempsey and fellow US star Landon Donovan helped Everton advance in the FA Cup, a major knockout tournament of English soccer teams.

January 20th update

Super Bowl on line this Sunday

• Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots: 3 PM Sunday – The AFC held true to form as the #2 ranked Ravens travel to Boston to take on the #1 seeded Patriots. The Patriots are coming off of an easy victory over the Denver Tebo… err Broncos and will look to contain Ravens star RB Ray Rice just as they did Tebow. The Ravens and their aging but stellar defense will look to find a way to slow down the Patriots potent offense led by Tom Brady. Brady as he has all year long, will look for his two star tight ends, Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez.
• New York Giants at San Francisco 49ers: 6:30 PM Sunday – The Giants look to continue their white hot streak across the country taking on the 49ers. The 49ers, led by running back Frank Gore and quarterback Alex Smith, will look to build upon a big game last week which catapulted Smith from the realms of obscurity to the front page after leading his team back from two late deficits. The Giants are led by their passing game on offense with Eli Manning and two star receivers and a relentless pass-rush on defense featuring DL's Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck and Mathias Kiwanuka.


Pioneer X-Gamer dies after accident

• A story that we broke last week has gone from sad to tragic. Canadian Skier Sarah Burke died on Thursday after suffering severe brain injuries incurred during a training accident on January 10th. Burke, 29, was a free style skier, a sport closely related to free style snowboarding (made famous by Shaun White). Burke had won 6 gold medals at the X-Games (an ESPN sponsored event for extreme sports) and was instrumental in convincing organizers of the 2014 Olympics to include the sport.
• Married to a fellow skier, Burke leaves behind a legacy not only in actual competition but pioneering for changes within her sport. She had enough clout to convince the powers that be at the X-Games to include a few other forms of freestyle skiing into their competition, a feat that very few competitors in any sport can claim. She will not only be missed by everyone inside her sport, but by other athletes as well.


Mayweather calls Pacquiao, wants to fight on May 5th

• In an event that could be this generation's Ali-Frazier or "Fight of the Century" if it happens; the much anticipated Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao fight seems to be gaining some steam. Mayweather called his rival who is currently in the Phillippines where he acts as a legislator and one can only assume Mayweather reiterated his desire to fight on May 5th as he has been pining for for weeks.
• The two are unequivocably the two best boxers in the world today and a fight between the two would draw mind-boggling revenue, the likes of which will likely never have been seen before in any similar event.
• Just like Ali-Frazier, there's a brash, obnoxious loudmouth (Mayweather) and a quiet class act (Pacquiao or "Pac-Man). But these two take it even farther as Pacquiao gives back to his community in so many ways, not the least of which is acting as a Congressman despite being in his boxing prime while Mayweather won his last fight on a cheap shot and afterwords nearly picked a fight with boxing legend Larry Merchant who might not have been able to defend himself as he is over 80 years old. It would be a good vs. evil duel with the winner taking home the title of the best fighter of our generation. You better believe you'll be hearing a lot more about this if it actually does happen.

January 16th update

Favorites tumble in NFC, coast in AFC

• The NFL playoffs always have a few twists and turns and this year has been no exception. The Two most impressive teams over the course of this season according to many were the New Orleans Saints and Green Bay Packers, led by MVP favorite Aaron Rodgers and likely runner-up Drew Brees. However both lost over the weekend as the Saints couldnt survive a crazy 4th quarter against the San Francisco 49ers and the Packers fell flat at home against Eli Manning and the New York Giants.

• The Saints fell behind 17-0 early and looked to be in trouble but quickly recovered and actually took the lead twice late in the game. However, the Saints have not been good on defense all year and could not guard TE Vernon Davis who torched them for 3 TD's including two in the fourth quarter and one with 9 seconds left in the game to provide the final margin of victory for the Nniers.

• The biggest play of the Packers-Giants game undeniably came at the end of the first half. With the Giants on the Packers 37 yard line, clinging to a 13-10 lead with just seconds remaining in the half, coach Tom Coughlin opted not to kick a Field Goal, instead throwing a Hail Mary pass which was inexplicably caught by Giants WR Hakeem "the Dream" Nicks. Green Bay never recovered and lost 37-20.

•The other two games were less surprising as the Patriots obliterated the Tim Tebow-led Broncos 45-10 with Tom Brady throwing for a playoff recorde tying 6 TD's just minutes into the second half, 3 of which went to TE Rob Gronkowski. The Baltimore Ravens won with their standard formula of defense and mistake free football, committing 0 penalties and 0 turnovers to barely edge the upstart Houston Texans 20-13. San Francisco and New England will host the Championship games next week with the winner playing in the Super Bowl on February 5th.

Yankees Make Big Moves

• Entering this offseason, the biggest question for the New York Yankees was surrounding their starting pitching. After their ace CC Sabathia, the Yankees pitching staff was a large question mark. However, in a flurry of moves within about an hour of each other on Friday night the Yankees took two big steps to shore up the rest of their staff.
• The biggest move was acquiring Seattle pitching phenom Michael Pineda. Pineda will be a top 3 starter for the Yankees (joining Sabathia and Phil Hughes) and made the All-Star team last year at the ripe old age of 22. He's still raw and has the ability to improve but he's a bright star with a lot of upside that the Yankees hope will be realized. The Yankees gave up star catching prospect Jesus Montero in this trade, showing just how high they are Pineda.

• The other move was signing former Dodgers starter Hideki Kuroda to a one year deal which will give them a quality arm in 2012 and will probably allow their two young young minor league stars (Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances) another year to develop and be coached.
The last two spots of the rotation can be filled with a number of prospects or established veterans.

Australian Open Starts this Week

• The Australian Open, the start of the Tennis season, kicked off on Sunday in Sydney. Many of the stories of this years tournament have come off the court. Venus Williams pulled out prior to the tournament due to an autoimmune disease that has kept her out of competition since August. Additionally, interesting comments from her sister Serena made some doubt her commitment, and comments about gay marriage by Australian tennis legend Margaret Court have given the tournament yet another front page talking point.
• In the Women’s bracket, #1 seed Caroline Wozniacki should have a nice path to a championship. She may have to play Li Na (last year’s runner up) in the semifinals. The toughest bracket is the one containing Serena, world #3 Vera Zvonereva and former Grand Slam event champions Svetlana Kuznetsova and Maria Sharapova
• In the Men’s bracket, the usual suspects are around. World ranked #1 Novak Djokovic is the prohibitive favorite but he will have to face the standard bearers of the last 10 years in Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who have been feuding recently with regard to player's rights. Incredibly, in the past 27 Men's Grand Slam events, only one (the 2009 U.S. Open won by Juan Martin Del Potro) was won by someone other than Federer, Nadal or Djokovic.

September 19th update

Big East joins Big 12 in limbo

• In the mid 2000's, the Big East lost three of its biggest football schools (Virginia Tech, Boston College and Miami) as those schools defected to join the Atlantic Coast Conference. Recently two of the Big East’s best basketball schools decided to follow their former conference mates to the ACC.
• Pittsburgh and Syracuse were granted acceptance to the ACC on Sunday after it was reported they submitted applications to join the conference on Friday. Connecticut is rumored to be frantically attempting to join Pitt and Syracuse in defecting to the ACC. These moves, if they go through, will make the ACC far and away the undisputed basketball powerhouse conference and would cripple the Big East, which used to be in the running for that title.
• While the Big East is facing danger, the Big 12 may already be on the brink of oblivion. Texas A&M university announced two weeks ago that they will be leaving the Big 12 to join the South Eastern Conference. Nebraska began play in the Big Ten this year and there has been rumors of powerhouses Oklahoma and Texas looking at their options as well. There has been controversy from the members remaining in the Big 12 who do not want to let Texas A&M out of the conference, led by Baylor University, are scared that the exit will lead to a mass exodus and the eventual dissolution of the conference.
• As with most things in life, these moves are motivated by money, in these cases by television contracts. The more marquee schools each conference can get in the two biggest college sports (football and basketball) the more they can charge for television rights, however for Pitt and especially Syracuse to abandon the Big East has already created a small uproar.


Injuries already marring 2011 NFL season

• Michael Vick had the Eagles in a good position to win but after suffering a concussion and being knocked out of the game the Falcons rallied to win 35-31 in a game that also saw Jeremy Maclin suffer a huge, illegal hit that at first looked like it could have caused a concussion.
• Speaking of injuries, no one has been massacred so far this season like the Chiefs and the Colts, two division winners last season. The Colts lost Peyton Manning for either most or all of the season and had to release former defensive player of the year Bob Sanders because of his injury history and have had WR Austin Collie suffer two (you guessed it) concussions in the past 12 months.
• The Chiefs have arguably had even worse luck, losing superstar safety Eric Berry (who played every snap last year on defense and made the Pro Bowl), Tight End Tony Moeaki who was an up and coming offensive weapon and made one of the nicest catches you'll ever see last season, tough linebacker Brandon Siler who was signed this offseason to shore up the run defense and now, the coup d'etat, Jamal Charles (who ran for 6.38 yards per carry in 2010 which was second in NFL History. All are out for the season and the Chiefs have looked shocked and demoralized, losing by a combined 89-10 to two last place teams from 2010.
• Tony Romo played with broken ribs, Miles Austin caught 3 TD passes and Jesse Holley caught a 70+ yard pass to get the Cowboys down to the one yard line as the Cowboys rebounded from a tough loss to the Jets the week before to defeat the 49ers 27-24 in OT.
• Ravens NT Terrence Cody suffered a concussion and returner David Reed had his arm in a sling after a 26-13 loss to the Titans who got production from people other than star RB Chris Johnson.
• Arian Foster, last year's rushing yards leader, came back briefly from a hamstring injury but then left although the Texans were lucky enough to get production from Steve Slaton and Ben Tate on the ground and beat the Dolphins.
• In matchups of healthy teams, the #1 draft pick of this year's NFL draft Cam Newton continued to shatter rookie passing records, throwing for 432 yards and rushing for a TD in a close 30-23 loss to the defending Super Bowl Champion Packers and Tom Brady had another great game, throwing for 423 yards and 3 TD's in a win over the Chargers, bringing him to a staggering, cartoonish 940 yards and 7 TDs after just 2 games.
• Don't forget to watch Monday Night Football, as the Giants who have lost 4 defensive backs and 6 defensive players to injury (and might be without star DT Justin Tuck and WR Hakeem Nicks) take on the Rams who have lost star RB Steven Jackson to a quad injury for a few weeks, WR Danny Amendola with a dislocated elbow, and have Sam Bradford banged up with finger injury on his throwing hand.

September 14th update

Outstanding Individual Performances on MNF

• Monday Night Football is a staple of many schedules every fall but few games match the outstanding performances put forth this past Monday. The New England Patriots defeated the Miami Dolphins 38-24 on the back of a scintillating day by quarterback Tom Brady. Brady threw for 517 yards, which is the 4th most since the merger of the AFL and NFL (which is widely considered the beginning of modern football).
• Assisting him in this mark was wide receiver Wes Welker. Welker caught a 15 yard pass and ran all the way to the end zone. The remarkable part of this is that the play started on the opposition’s 1 yard line. This ties the record for the longest play from scrimmage at 99-yards. Obviously this record cannot be broken (as a football field is 100 yards), but this feat has only been accomplished only 11 times. Interestingly enough, one of those times was by quarterback Ron Jaworski, who is now a TV commentator and was commenting on this game.
• Not only did Brady have an astonishing game, but Chad Henne, the Dolphins QB, threw for 416 yards which combined with Brady's total set an NFL all-time record for passing yards in a game. Those weren't the only passing records, check it out here if you want to read about the rest.
• The final record tied was during the other Monday Night game (there are 2 Monday Night games during the first week of the season). The Oakland Raiders defeated the Denver Broncos 23-20 in Denver but the real news was made by Oakland kicker Sebastian Janikowski who hit a 63-yard field goal, becoming the third player in NFL history to make one from that long. Interestingly enough the second time this mark was achieved was also in Denver (the ball can go farther in the thinner air of the Mile-High City) by Jason Elam. The record was initially set by Tom Dempsey, who had his own aid while kicking the record setter in 1970.


Djokovic wins another major

• Novak Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal on Monday's U.S. Open final, winning his third major of the year. Djokovic has already set a record for winnings in a calendar year with $10.6 million and still has a couple months left to increase that total before the tennis season ends.
• John McEnroe is calling it the greatest season ever and many agree with him. One person who stopped just short of that is his brother, Patrick McEnroe, a tennis analyst who said: “Just as a single season, I think Djokovic’s season is the best since Rod Laver in 1969.” Laver, who the Australian Open's courts are named after, was the last to win all 4 majors in the same calendar year.
• Even though Djokovic lost to Roger Federer in the French Open, what he's done this year is staggering. He's defeated Rafael Nadal 6 times in a row, all in finals, including the shellacking at the U.S. Open where Nadal had only lost a handful of sets over the past 2 years. Facing a deficit in the 5th set against Roger Federer, Djokovic returned a serve hard across the court, narrowly landing the ball inside the line despite the fact that if he'd missed, the match would be over. Federer, one of the greatest tennis players ever, was shaken and eventually lost the match.
• A couple years ago Nadal was seemingly taking the mantel from Federer with Djokovic a distant 3rd. But after this season the demonstrative Serb has put the entire tennis world in his rear view mirror (all while pulling out some funky dance moves).


Wednesday Spotlight: Justin Verlander

• Its one of the most interesting debates in baseball; Should a pitcher be allowed to win the Most Valuable Player award? Individual awards matter more in baseball than perhaps in any of the other sports, and the MVP award is the cream of the crop. There is another award specifically for pitchers called the Cy Young award (named after the man with the most wins as a pitcher). The arguments are plentiful, but generally the MVP is won by a position player and not by a pitcher.
• This year, there is a serious argument for a pitcher to be named an MVP for the first time in almost 20 years. Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers has been on an absolute tear. He has a chance to be the first pitcher to win 25 games in a single season since 1990 on a team that is likely to win their division. Verlander has been unhittable at times this year (literally), and has put the Tigers on his back. One of the things helping him is the fact that the rest of his team isnt really that good, especially the other pitchers, yet his team is probably going to win their division.
• Another factor helping Verlander is the lack of another credible candidate. Many other players have arguments, but without delving into them, all of them have major chinks in the armor. I will not go into the incredible stat line Verlander has put up this year, but if you are curious as to the argument for him winning MVP, you can read it here.