The LeBron of Baseball???

Stephen Strasburg, the baseball phenomen is causing quite a stir in the minor leagues. Drafted to the Washington Nationals, as the number one draft pick overall in 2009, Strasburg is ranked by some as the greatest draft pick of all time. As he continues to put in work in the minor leagues preparing himself for the big league, many are wondering if it is even necessary for him to continue at this level of play. In only his 4th start of his professional career, Strasburg was unhittable against the Redding Phillies. His level of raw talent and ability to captivate the crowd from the mound have baseball enthusiasts referring to him as the LeBron of baseball.

Collapse in the Capital

Last night the NHL's best regular-season team, the Washington Captials completed its colossal collapse in truly spectacular fashion as they lost Game 7 of its conference quarterfinals series 2-1 to the Montreal Canadiens and became the first No. 1 seed to blow a 3-1 series lead in the playoffs to an 8-seed. 


This was not the way that it was supposed to turn out for the winners of the President's trophy, not a team that had wrapped up a playoff spot since the beginning of the New Year and home to one of the best players in hockey as well as its most explosive offense. 


"I'm in shock right now. I don't know what to say," the league's reigning MVP and the captain of the Capitals, Alex Ovechkin said with his voice low, his eyes staring at the floor of the locker room. "It was great going up 3-1 in the series. But it's only one step. We didn't do it." "It's a fact that we [lost], and I don't know what I have to say right now. It's a terrible feeling right now," he continued. "You know, it's hard for me, but for everybody. We know we can win, but we don't win it. It's pretty hard."


Because of the 8th seeded Canadiens upsetting the Capitals, and the fact that all three division winners in the Eastern Conference went down in the opening round, it leaves the 4th seeded Pittsburgh Penguins as the highest seeded remaining team in the East. Therefore, they will take on the Canadiens while the 7th seeded Philadelphia Flyers who upset the New Jersey Devils take on the 6th seed Boston Bruins after they defeated the Buffalo Sabres.

Olympic Sized Reparations - China Stripped of 2000 Sydney Bronze Medal

Does anyone remember the Olympic controversy of 2008 where a whole crew of Chinese gymnast that looked a little too pint sized and sprightly to be 16 where questioned about their eligibility to compete? Well 10 years after the 2000 Olympics in Sydney the International Committee (IOC) has learned that Dong Fangxiao was only 14 years old when her team won the Bronze. The IOC has stripped the Chinese women's team of their Bronze and officially awarded it to US team. The IOC is continuing to investigate the eligibility of all of the Chinese gymnasts.

Thunder Clap!: Photo of the Day + A Game 4 Retrospective.

On the eve of a crucial game 5 in Los Angeles that will prove if the Thunder are real threats to the Lakers attempt at repeating as champions, I wanted to share with you the greatest sporting experience I have ever had: Game Four in the Ford Center!

Cowboys get Sicko

Cowboys picked up the free-agent TE, Scott Sicko, yesterday after saying that he would pass on the NFL in order to pursue graduate school. Sicko was cause a bit of an internet stir over the weekend when he announced Saturday that he would not play in the NFL after not being drafted. Some critics thought of it as his ego coming into to play, while others applauded his focus on his academics.

Sicko received calls from 5 teams on Saturday including the Patriots who had a private workout with him, offering contracts for the 2010-2011 season. At that point he said that he had decided in the 7th round that since he hadn't been drafted he would pursue his studies to fulfill his dream of becoming a History teacher.

Sicko has said that if he makes the Cowboys, he will begin taking online classes in either Political Science or History to begin his graduate school studies and if he doesn't' end up with a spot on the roster that he will enroll in one of his graduate schools in the fall.

"What can I say? I changed my mind. I got very comfortable with the Cowboys over the last couple of days. And I made a compromise with myself," Sicko told reporters at the UNH campus Tuesday. After all the talk of if Myron Rollie was really committed to football over his other academic pursuits, a couple of eyebrows are being raised to this changed mind of Sicko and how long it will be before he changes his mind again.

Photo of the Day: Wade's Hot Hand

Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images

After Boston's win in Game 3 of the first round series against the Heat, I stated that we may need to be preparing for a sweep. And to anyone who has been watching this series closely it seemed like the Celtics had finally found a way to win. But Dwayne Wade wasn't going to let the Celtics end his season that easily, well at least his Right hand wouldn't.

Wade led Miami to a 101-92 victory yesterday afternoon by scoring 46 points, 30 of which came in the 2nd half. After hitting his third 3-pointer in three minutes, and when it looked like the Heat's one man offense couldn't get any hotter, Wade ran down the court screaming at his hand.

"We were just having a little conversation," said Wade, who had 19points in the fourth quarter, including 4 of 4 from the 3 point line. "I was just telling him he was hot."

If the Heat want to win this series Wade would have to play at that level for the next 3 games in a row. Unfortunately, it appears that Wade and his right hand were only successful at delaying the inevitable.

Playoff Highlights: They're Back!

Although the majority of us favored the Celtics in our First Round Picks most of us (besides the obviously biased John) were skeptical of how this aged team would do in the playoffs. Most people thought that the Celtics didn't have enough "fight" in them; that they didn't want it bad enough. But from the first game of this series against the Heat, the Celtics of yesteryear have been making a comeback.

Tonight, Paul Pierce hit a 21 foot jumper at the buzzer to beat the Heat 100-98. But Pierce didn't seem to understand why everyone was so surprised "That's a shot I hit a number of times in playoffs and regular season," he stated after. "I told the coaches, 'Give me the ball on the right side.' I got my sweet spot, made sure there wasn't any time left and drained it." Easy as that.

With 3 games under in the W column, people all over the city of Boston are grabbing their brooms and talking about a sweep.

Photo of the Day: Tim Tebow, First Rounder?

Tim Tebow apparently knows exactly where and who he will be drafted by. Does that mean we will hear his name called tonight in the first round? Mel Kiper has him being taken by the Minnesota Vikings with the 30th pick in the draft. Check out ESPN for more.

Mock, yea, The, yea, Draft, yea....

OK so since the NFL has decided to only do the first round tomorrow that is what we'll be tackling in this article. I'm going to run down both the needs and the likely first picks of every team in the draft:

Game 1 Observations

I awoke today and decided to rehash some of the memories and observations from the feast of basketball we were able to enjoy this weekend.

Phoenix 100 – Portland 105

- We saw a good amount of zone in this game being played by Portland which in turn forced the Suns to take a high number of long 2’s with hands in their faces.

- The lack of Robin Lopez definitely showed last night on the defensive and rebounding end of the game.  While Jarron Collins does a pretty good job against conventional post up big men, he had problems dealing with Portland’s athletic bigs last night. And offensively he is just a complete nonfactor.

- Andre Miller had a ridiculous game and it seems that he is actually playing better without Brandon Roy around. His veteran presence and savvy made a big impact on the game yesterday. He and Jarryd Bayless combined for 49 points.

- The Blazers were able to do exactly what they wanted to do in terms of controlling the pace of the game. They demonstrated the ability to play both an up-tempo game as well as a slow pace, grind-it-out kind of game.  If the Suns are going to take back control of this series they need be more assertive with their gameplan because on Sunday they just seemed one step behind the Trailblazers.

Dallas 100 – San Antonio 94

- Anytime Nowitzki is lights out like he was last night it’s going to be hard to beat the Mavericks. He ended up with 36 points off of going 12 for 14 from the field and 12 for 12 from the free-throw line.

- Unfortunately for San Antonio their only major contributors were Duncan, Ginobili, and Parker.  You only got 23 points from the rest of the team and if that is going to continue to be the case you can probably expect them to be swept.

- George Hill still is not ready to go off of that injured ankle and for some reason it took Pops around 20 minutes to recognize this and he left scoreless.

- The hack-a-Dampier method seemed to work a little bit but I can’t see it being a series changing strategy.

Los Angeles 87 – Oklahoma City 79

- This game really came down to Durant having problems the entire game getting any sort of good looks. The rest of the Thunder will need to step up because the Lakers will literally take a defender off of anybody on the Thunder to help on Durant. If other Thunder players start to show some life it should take some of that attention away.

- The Thunder have to worry about the dominance that Gasol and Bynum are able to display up against their bigs. Bynum is apparently healed from injury as he turned in a great game on Saturday and he and Gasol basically held down the painted area.

- It must have been really confusing if you were watching the box score periodically with this one because the score kept oscillating between a blowout and a very close game every few minutes

Boston 85 – Miami 76

- KG really needs to get past his whole alpha dog mentality because he’s just not there anymore. He spent the whole yelling at anybody on the floor, which is usually ok except that he’s not as dominant as he used to be and looked really bad on defense. And eventually all of that energy got him kicked out and now suspended for a game

- Is it bad that I think they might have a better chance to win the next game without him?…

-  Wade repeatedly carved up the slow almost geriatric Celtics defense at will for a while there.

- The Heat had Boston where they wanted them after the first half but proceeded to score only 32 points in the second half.

- The Celtics came out sluggish however after waking up they played great team defense swarming around the ball and causing a lot of Miami turnovers which then translated to easy points. Defense was the key to their comeback.

Denver 126 – Utah 113

-  JR Smith is ridiculously hot and cold but on Saturday he was on fire. He went nuts on the Jazz and just kept on swishing dagger after dagger. He had 2 points at the start of the 4th quarter and 20 points at the end.

- Without AK-47, Carmelo Anthony scored all over the Jazz and ended up with 42 points. There really seemed no answer to him all game long.

- Seeing Okur go down and finding out that he is out for the playoffs sways my prediction to the Nuggets now because it just seems like there are now too many injuries for the Jazz to overcome.

Atlanta 102 – Milwaukee 92

- First thing to note: Carlos Delfino was assigned to guard Josh Smith in the post and that’s just not a good idea for sooo many reasons.

- Brandon Jennings decided to shake off all that shooting rust he showed in the latter half of the season and went off for 34 points. Unfortunately this strategy will probably not work to win games because it’s going to take a team effort to beat the Hawks.

- The Hawks came out firing and killed Milwaukee in the 1st quarter with an inspiring team effort. Although Milwaukee got back into the game late, this game didn’t present too much uncertainty to the viewers

- Not to rag on the Collins brothers, but I found out later that Jason Collins was the only Hawk NOT to play in this game. Looks like the Lopez brothers don’t have much competition in terms of the best brother combination to come out of Stanford..

Cleveland 96 – Chicago 83

- Shaq looked a lot better in this game than he has all of the regular season so apparently the time he took off will pay off in the long run and hopefully this means he will be a huge factor in the games to come. Rasheed Wallace should have taken a page out of Superman’s book.

- Derrick Rose played a passionate game and was all over the court. He ended up scoring 28 points and dishing 10 assists but unfortunately his Bulls team never looked like they were close to knocking off the Cavs in this game.

- You can see the intensity that LeBron and the Cavs are playing with in the fight that there has been so many confrontations and extracurricular activity between them and the Bulls.

Orlando 98 – Charlotte 89

- Dwight Howard had 8 blocks in the first half and looked like he would easily break the playoff record of 10 set by Hakeem Olajuwon however I think that the beating he was taking inside eventually got to his head and made him start to get into foul trouble.  He actually ended up with only 5 points

- I don’t know what is going on with Vince Carter. He didn’t looked good in this game at all as he went 4 for 19 and fouled out at the end of the game

- Jameer Nelson went off in the first half scoring 24 of his 32 points. Unfortunately he didn’t show that kind of dominance the entire game as the Bobcats started to come back late in the game.

Photo of the Day: Garnett Suspended from Game 2

Kevin Garnett elbowed Quentin Richardson as part of the near-fracas that resulted in his ejection.

Here is what Garnett had to say about what went down between him and Richardson. "I saw Paul grab his shoulder, as a stinger or whatever, so I just tried to immediately call [Celtics trainer] Ed [Lacerte] over," Garnett explained after the game. "I tried to give him some room and I just saw [Quentin Richardson] standing over him talking nonsense. I asked [Richardson] to give him some room and, before you knew it, mayhem started. That situation, man, I know these two [Richardson and Pierce] have competed against each other in the past and have history from bumping heads a little bit. I was just trying to give him the common courtesy for an injured player, that's all. Nothing more, nothing less.

"I have no beef with Q, I know him personally. I thought what he did was a bit disrespectful, standing over a guy hurt, you know, and talking nonsense. Before you knew it, it all just broke out. I gotta use my head, but all I saw was Paul hurt and that's all I cared about at that time."

The question is now, what does this mean for the Celtics in Game 2? Pierce reports that his shoulder feels better but it is still questionable or if better means that he will be 100%. The Celtics put up a good fight in the first game of the series and a less than healthy Pierce and no Garnett could make the next game a bit difficult.

Both Garnett and Richardson were also fined $25k

NBA Playoffs Round 1: FIGHT

Now we have come to the most exciting part of the NBA season: Playoff Time!! And it's also time for a little playoff predicting, so without further ado I present to you Every Day Is A Sports Day's picks for the winners in the 1st Round.

Eastern Conference

1. Cleveland Cavaliers  vs. 8. Chicago Bulls

John: Cavs. For one reason: LeBron James

Marcus: Cleveland

Michelle: Cleveland. LeBron would never let this team go out in the first round.
Adrienne: LeBron James will figure out a way to fly before the Cavs lose this series. 

Sport for Prophet's Pick: Cavs in 4. Like everyone else said LeBron will just not let his team lose in the first round of the playoffs. In a recent interview he said that the Bulls were facing a different beast in the playoffs. I am inclined to believe him.

4. Boston Celtics vs. 5. Miami Heat

John: Celtics. Boston's not that bad. Garnett will bring everything he's got in the playoffs and Rondo has grown immensely.

Marcus: Heat. Boston is a sad, sad group of old people right now.

Michelle: Celtics. They are playing horribly and look old and useless, nothing like the team from 2009. But they will still make it out of the first round.
Adrienne: Both of these teams are poor excuses for the Celtics and Heat we knew just a few years ago, but the Celtics have enough power to beat out the one man attack, Dwyane Wade, that the Heat will prove to be in this series. 

Sport for Prophet's Pick: Boston in 7. Even though the Celtics are coming into the playoffs hobbling and on their last tank of gas, you have to believe that they will give us one good series before they bow out in the second round. The Heat would need Wade to become superhuman to take this series from Boston.

2. Orlando Magic vs. 7. Charlotte Bobcats

John: Magic. Offense wins games, defense wins championships. Superman will shut it down inside, allowing other defenders to take on Bobcats leader, Stephen Jackson.

Marcus: Magic.

Michelle: Dwight Howard is a beast. That is all.
Adrienne: Who is going to stop that rebounding monster Mr. Dwight

Sport for Prophet's Pick: Magic in 4. The Magic have too much talent for the Bobcats to handle. Orlando should make short work of the Bobcats,

3. Atlanta Hawks vs. 6. Milwaukee Bucks

John: Hawks. The Hawks have been a dark-horse finals candidate all year. Josh Smith, Joe Johnson, and Al Horford are a tough combination, defensively and offensively

Marcus: Hawks.

Michelle: Hawks. I don't know. Since it's easy to sleep on this team, I'm kind of pulling for them.
Adrienne: The Hawks may low key make some noise in these playoffs. 

Sport for Prophet's Pick: Hawks in 5. If Andrew Bogut didn't Theismann his arm then they might have had a chance but now I don't have much faith in their chances.  Also Joe Johnson is very underrated, but I think a deep run for Atlanta may just prove his worth.

Western Conference

1. Los Angeles Lakers vs. 8. Oklahoma City Thunder

John: Lakers. As tempting as it is to call an upset here, the Lakers have home court and if nothing else that  will make the difference. They've struggles in Oklahoma City but if worst comes to worst, they get game 7 at the Stapler and that's enough for Kobe and Co.

Marcus: Lakers

Michelle: Lakers. This matchup will be a close one and fun to watch and although part of me is pulling for the Durantula, I just don't think that they can beat the Lakers 4 times. Durant is solid but Kobe can be that clutch killer we used to see in him and I'm not totally sold that the old Kobe is dead and gone just yet.
Adrienne: Lakers. The Lakers are used to having tough first and second round series' that force them to sure up some of the holes in their arsenal that are evident during the regular season. Kobe will play like the great basketball player that he is and hope to get some quality from Gasol, Odom, Fisher, Bynum, and Co. 

Sport for Prophet's Pick: Lakers in 6. This may be wishful thinking but I think the youth movement of the Thunder will push the Lakers a little bit. The Lakers have too much talent and the Thunder are too inexperienced. Hopefully this will just build Durant's confidence for next year. 

4. Denver Nuggets vs. 5. Utah Jazz

John: Nuggets. This is a toss-up but in the playoff environment I say the Nuggets pull together and win one for coach Karl. It should be one of the closest series in Round 1 though.

Marcus: Nuggets.

Michelle: Jazz. I keep going back and forth on this but for right now I'll go with Utah.
Adrienne: I would like to say that the Nuggets will win this series for all that it symbolizes given what their coach has gone through this year, but I won't be surprised if the Jazz pull it off. 

Sport for Prophet's Pick: Jazz in 7. I don't know why but even through all the injuries I think that Utah may be able to pull this one out. This one was a toss up to me.

2. Dallas Mavericks vs. 7. San Antonio Spurs

John: Mavs. San Antonio is the opposite of rising young teams like OKC and POR. They're old, getting slow, and even though Dallas' stars might not be spring chickens, Jason Kidd is masterful in running the offense.

Marcus: Spurs. San Antonio's been clicking, so I could see them beating Dallas. Manu is playing well, Tony's still lightning quick, and Richard Jefferson and Tim Duncan are both paying very well.

Michelle: Mavs. This one will be close too but I am biased and Dirk has to win or Cuban will ship him back
Adrienne: Mavs.The Spurs are a tired franchise. They need life injected through that orange basketball. Until then my money is on the Mavs and Mark Cuban's crazy ass. 

Sport for Prophet's Pick: Mavs in 7. As I said before I think that we are witnessing the end of the Duncan era on the San Antonio Spurs, and the Mavs are coming into this game with much to prove to their detractors. Hopefully the Mavs prove that they are not the underachievers they are made out to be. 

3. Phoenix Suns vs. 6. Portland Trailblazers

John: Blazers. I haven't picked any upsets yet, and the Blazers are a promising team with the ability to take on the Suns at every level.

Marcus: Suns. Portland would/could be interesting if Brandon Roy was playing, but since he won't be it's Phoenix's series.

Michelle: Suns. If Lopez's back isn't dead, him and Amare are a deadly combo and Steve Nash is still Steve Nash.
Adrienne: Suns. 2 weeks ago this would have been a different answer, but no Roy, no victory. 

Sport for Prophet's Pick: Suns in 5. No Brandon Roy, not much hope for the Blazers. I really like Portland as a team though and they should be able to steal a game at home.

Friday Faceoff: Jay-Z vs. Ortiz

Hip Hop mogul Jay-Z is suing David Ortiz from the Boston Red Sox for stealing the name of his infamous nightclubs. Ortiz recently opened a club in Puerto Rico, named "Forty/Forty", which oddly resembles Jay-Z's nightclubs in New York, Las Vegas, and Atlantic City all named The "40/40" Club. Coincidence? Jay-Z and his team think otherwise. In the suit they are claiming that there is no way that Ortiz didn't know about the name or the existence of the Jay-Z clubs, because he has visited them on several occasions.

There may be some underline baseball beef at play in this name game. The 40-40 club is a term used by sportswriters to distinguish MLB players that accumulate 40 homeruns and 40 stolen bases in a single season. This is by far one of the most exclusive professional sports "clubs" to be a part of considering there are currently only 3 members. Now, Ortiz (also known as Big Papi) as the DH for the Red Sox has been known to put up some big numbers in the homerun column, but he is not known for his ability to steal bases. On the other hand Jay-Z is an avid New York Yankees fan both in and out of the stadium. In fact one of his closest personal friends is Yankees star, Alex Rodriguez, who actually IS a member of the exclusive 40-40 club with 42 home runs and 46 stolen bases in 1998.

NBA - End of the Season Awards

Rookie of the Year: Tyreke Evans

It's really hard to decide between Evans and his fellow rookie Stephen Curry and this was our most debated category. Evans has been consistently putting up great numbers on a struggling Kings team. Though his critics would say that anybody can put up numbers on a bad team, Tyreke is only the 4th rookie to average at least 20 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds in a season. On the other hand, in terms of efficiency ratings, Curry has been the better of the two since mid-season.  So in the end it really comes down to what you weigh more, and in the end Evans just edged out Curry for our vote.

2nd. Stephen Curry
3rd. 5 way tie: Darren Collison, Marcus Thornton, Brandon Jennings, Dejuan Blair, and Ty Lawson

Coach of the Year: Scott Brooks

As EDISAD columnist Michelle told me when voting on this category, it is often hard to discern whether this season for the Thunder is more a result of good coaching or the emergence of MVP caliber play from Kevin Durant. But something must be said for the ability to harness such raw talent in his young players and have them withstand the test of the hyper-competitive Western conference. He took a team that won 23 games last year, really only added a sixth man in James Harden and turned them into a dangerous 8th seed in the NBA playoffs. If they could surprise a struggling Laker team in the first round, Brooks; name would be one of legend.

2nd. Alvin Gentry
3rd. Scott Skiles

Defensive Player of the Year: Dwight Howard

I think fellow writer Marcus put it best in that it's a wonder how anybody could vote anybody but Superman II for this award. Not only has Howard led the league in rebounds and blocks for back-to-back seasons now, he also single-handedly alters anybody's thought of getting in the paint when up against Orlando. Howard is so good at the defensive end that he can take a mediocre defensive team like the Magic (who else on that team inspires the term lockdown defender?) and make them the number one team in defensive efficiency.

2nd. LeBron James
3rd. Gerald Wallace

Most Valuable Player: LeBron James


So I guess the only question in this race is who is going to come in second because this was a lock since the All Star Break. I my opinion anyone that votes for anyone else with their first vote should have their voting privileges revoked for at least 5 years. As almost an unstoppable scoring machine, James dominates the court in a way that has never been seen before. His passing ability and athleticism allows him to orchestrate the game any way he sees fit. James also inspires the respect and admiration of his teammates, even Shaq was OK playing second fiddle to the King. Here's hoping he moves a little farther East this summer....

2nd. Kevin Durant
3rd. Dwight Howard

And to save your eyes, we'll move to list format the rest of the awards including the All NBA and All Rookie Teams:

Sixth Man of the Year: Anderson Varejao, Runner Up - Jamal Crawford

All Rookie Team:


G - Tyreke Evans
G - Stephen Curry
F - Marcus Thornton
F - Taj Gibson
C - Dejuan Blair

All NBA Team:


G - Dwyane Wade
G - Kobe Bryant
F - Kevin Durant
F - LeBron James
C - Dwight Howard

Jimmy Clausen: NFL Flop-To-Be

The NFL Draft will be upon us in just four days. Depending on how you look at it, there are about five top-flight prospects at the position of quarterback: Sam Bradford, Jimmy Clausen, Colt McCoy, Tony Pike, and Tim Tebow (I had to throw Pike in there now that I live in Cincinnati). ESPN recently aired a special in which Chucky interviewed Bradford, Clausen, McCoy and Tebow about the upcoming draft. Watching these interviews convinced me that Clausen has the dimmest NFL prospects of all the interviewees.

Photo of the Day: Nadal gets 29th Win in Monaco

Rafael Nadal of Spain plays a return to Michael Berrer of Germany during their third round match of the Monte Carlo Tennis Masters tournament in Monaco, Thursday, April 15, 2010. This is Nadal's 29th straight win in Monaco.

Don't Believe the Hype

Ever since the Donovan McNabb trade occurred sending him to the Washington Redskins, every sports analyst seems to have started drinking the kool-aid in believing that now the Eagles are the bottom feeders of the NFC East. There has even been talk that the Redskins Superbowl odds were better than the Eagles....Really? OK, let's snap back to reality now and realize that one player does not turn around a dismal franchise even if he is a franchise quarterback. In the same light, trading away that one player does not doom a good team, that was literally 4 quarters from having the bye in the playoffs, to the pits of the NFL. Just to give a little perspective, lets look at each set of positions for both the Redskins and the Eagles:

Photo of the Day: Irony at the Masters

There was a lot of anticipation surrounding this year's Masters. The media was focused on the story of Tiger's tumultious road to "recovery" and if he would be able easily get back in the swing of things. But beyond the story of Tiger's infidelity, another golfer and his wife had a story of their own. Phil Mickelson's wife Amy was diagnosed with breast cancer last year and this was the first time that his family had traveled with him since her diagnosis. Unfortunately, she did not feel strong enough to come watch the tournament in person. But after Mickelson putted the 18th hole to win his esteemed green jacket, there his wife was tearfully watching from the sidelines.

This had all the makings of a Disney Lifetime movie. The two best golfers- Tiger & Mickelson both having cut back on tournament play- Tiger because of his tabloid level infidelity, Mickelson because his wife battling breast cancer. Both at the peak of their game, but a bit reluctant to return to Augusta because of personal reasons and neither who has their spouse with them on the sideline. Tiger plays his best first round, while Mickelson is just barely on the cusps of being a contender. Then a miraculous turn of events and Mickelson is able to pull it out in the end while Tiger falls apart and continues his self loathing. And in the end, Amy is waiting for her husband with a long embrace and kiss. Not a dry eye on the green. Hollywood couldn't have written a better ending.

Today in Sports: Video Killed the Radio Star?

89 years ago today, KSKA provided the first ever broadcast of a sporting event on the radio. These days with the advent of 24 hour a day sports TV coverage, it would seem that the radio has become an outdated medium for acquiring the sports news of the day. 

Or at least that would be true to the untrained eye.. In truth the radio has just found a way to evolve through the use of the medium of radio podcasts. Now instead of being forced to tune in at a particular time to catch your favorite radio shows, you can download the show as a podcast and listen to it at your leisure. Say, for instance, that Mike and Mike in the Morning is your favorite radio/TV show but you can never catch it in the rush to prepare for work in the morning. With podcasts, you can go to ESPN.com and download their show directly from their Podcenter to be listened to at any time. 

For me, podcasts have become a way to get a comprehensive view of sports analysis on a daily basis. In fact, I feel like my weekday is unfulfilled if I don't get my daily fix of sports recap and analysis. So I figured that I would share some of my favorites with you in celebration of this anniversary, in case you become curious on a boring workday:

My Top Five Podcasts:

1. The B.S. Report

 - One of my favorites both because I enjoy the wit and comedy that Simmons employs in all of his podcasts as well as the fact that he mixes sports with other walks of life such as popular television shows and movies. Check it out for some solid betting advice (if gambling was legal), a good laugh or to catch one of his many special guests. 

2. The Dan Patrick Show

 - A three hour show covering all realms within the sports world. Even after leaving ESPN, Patrick displays the expertise of a well-traveled host as the length of the show flies by with ease. I always make sure to listen to the show daily to stay abreast of all things happening across the major sports. 

3. Football Today / NBA Today 

 - Even though these are seasonal podcasts they offer additional depth to the sports analysis of my favorite two sports as well as game by game breakdowns for the entirety of the regular season. It also helps me keep track of all the transactions that occur even in the off-season.

4. Scott Van Pelt Show

 - Scott Van Pelt and Ryen Russillo provide poignant commentary on some of the major sporting news of the week. The majority of the shows center around interviews done with the many guests that are invited to the podcast and are never boring. 

5. Fantasy Focus Football/Baseball

 - While these podcasts may focus on fantasy sports the show's true quality comes in the fun-loving moods of the hosts. Not only is the information they provide invaluable (it essentially won me my fantasy league), they also provide very entertaining commentary on the sports they cover. There is a reason the Football podcast is a two-time award winner. 

Another important moment in sports occurred today that I would be remiss not to mention: In 1947 on this day Jackie Robinson became the first Black player in modern major league baseball leading the way for many influential African American players to follow. 

 

Rumor Write Up: Tiger Now Tiki

After the Tiger Woods' scandal of the year, no celebrity or athlete golden boy seems as innocent as they used to be. Tiki Barber is the latest "good guy" athlete caught cheating on his wife. As the story has unfolded this week, it has become clear that Tiki was seeing his mistress Tracy Lynn Johnson before during and after his wife Ginny Barber was pregnant with their twins.

Tracy even posted a picture of her "boyfriend's whip" (Tiki's blue Maserati) on her Facebook page in September. Barber bought the car in 2003. At the time Maserati wrote "Tiki is considered a model athlete, not only for his athletics, but for his clean living lifestyle."

Now, I'll avoid a rant on athletes cheating and the morality behind it all. Fact is that it happens even to the athletes whom we assume are living "clean" lives. But there are some lessons that we have learned from Tiger and Tiki.

1. Don't leave voicemails EVER
2. You probably shouldn't let your mistress post pictures of your car on her Facebook. It is one thing when you drive a Honda Civic but a whole different story when you drive a blue Maserati that was profiled on the Maserati website.

Brad stays at Butler

Butler extend a 12 year contract to their history book coach, Brad Stevens. It was rumored that Stevens had been in talks with the University of Oregon who had the potential to double or triple what Butler could offer. Stevens had also been linked to offers in the ACC from Clemson and Wake Forest.

After the intense championship game against Duke, coach Mike Krzyzewski recommended Stevens stay at Butler and stated "They also should pay him more."

With the amazing run that Butler had in this year's tournament Stevens has made quite a name for himself and put this little Indiana school on the map. Stevens is the youngest coach ever in the Final Four, save for "the General" Bob Knight. He is the 2nd youngest in a championship game. And he now holds the record for most winst in his first three years as a head coach surpassing legends like Jim Boeheim. Under Stevens, the Bulldogs (33-5) set school records for victories and consecutive wins (25).

Michael Roseberg of Sport Illustrated spoke to the potential of Stevens best writing "[Stevens] will be mentioned for every job that comes open, and quite a few jobs that don't come open. Schools without basketball teams will start programs so they can hire him. Towns without schools will open universities so they can have basketball teams so they can hire him."

Terms of the contract, which extends through the 2021-22 seasons were not divulged. It is anticipated that the total package is at least $1 million annually. Two years ago Steven's base salary was $395,000.

The next question is whether Butler's star player Hayward will be staying with Coach Stevens for his 3rd year of college basketball or entering the NBA draft. With the Stevens/Hayward combo the Bulldogs are projected to be ranked in the top 5 at the start of next season.

Photo of the Day: Video- Tiger Woods' Voice of Reason

In this new Tiger Wood's commercial we see Tiger staring into the camera while the voice of his late father plays in the background. "Tiger, I am more prone to be inquisitive, to promote discussion," Earl Woods says in the recording. "I want to find out what your thinking was. I want to find out what your feeling are. Did you learn anything?" The question now is, was this brilliant marketing or poor taste.

What McNabb Can Look Forward To

Now while I am completely repulsed/saddened/astonished at this whole Donovan McNabb trade to the Redskins I guess I just hope he can be happy with the kind of management that doesn’t even have the decency to let their other ”franchise” quarterback that he’s being demoted and probably won’t be needed anymore. News has now come out that Jason Campbell found out about the Donovan McNabb trade from a reporter instead of from his own team. For more: (USA Today)

Photo of the Day: Perfection

At the half the Huskies had the worst half in UConn basketball history since the Auriemma era. The 2nd half the Huskies came back with one of their strongest runs to complete their 2nd flawless season. Before the game even ended the commentators had already put up the Huskies schedule for next season to see what the road to another perfect season would look like.

Let Caster Run!

The saga of Caster Semenya is so inhumane, it boggles my mind. In case you haven't heard, the women's 800m gold medal-winner from South Africa has been subjected to gender verification by the IAAF. She recently announced her return to competitive racing, but sadly, her own country continues to prohibit her from racing pending the public announcement of the results. What's the harm in allowing her to race until the test results are released? It's not as if they are preserving the country's image in track and field; she already represented South Africa in the 2009 world championships. Moreover, the IAAF has not rescinded her medal; why should her own country disallow her from racing?

Of course, there's no way in our new media society that rumors of Semenya's gender could have been surpressed. However, it's unconscionable to keep her out of racing until the test results are publicly reported. She has told the world that she is female, and until anyone produces incontrovertible evidence she is lying, she deserves the benefit of the doubt. Now that her face has been splashed across major news sources worldwide, imagine the difficulty of living a normal life, all sports aside.

Yes, there is irony in drawing attention to her case in order to protest the attention that her case has attracted so far. However, I have heard very little in the way of her defense, and she deserves to be given a chance. Let's leave determination of gender to the experts and just enjoy the talents of one of the fastest women on earth. This is to say nothing of the claims that gender verification is inherently unfair.

Finally, I do have a sense of humor and of course its amusing that a woman who's gender is questioned would have the name Semenya. That doesn't detract from the gravity of the situation, though. Let her run.

So About That Whole "Fear the Deer" Thing...

I guess the jinx was just out to get the Bucks, a team many people picked to make waves in the NBA Playoffs this year. Unfortunately those predictions as well as hopes for the Bucks to make it out of the first round may have come to a screeching halt with Andrew Bogut's horribly graphic injury. Now that the team is missing arguably its most important player,  the Bucks may just end up being roadkill in the race to the Finals in the East. Check out the links for more on the Buck's playoff hopes as well as fan reactions. (Bleacher Report) (Yahoo Sports)
(Photo from Jim Prisching/AP)

HATRED!

In less than 48 hours the men's and women's college basketball champions will be crowned. On the men's side there is a David vs Goliath match-up with the Duke Blue Devils facing the Butler Bulldogs. On the women's side there is the much anticipated rematch between #1 and #2 with the Uconn Huskies vs. the Stanford Cardinal. While the storylines are not the same, one thing is true, both finals contain a team that the country loves to hate.
From the time Coach K arrived on Duke's campus and the basketball team started winning games hatred towards the devils came from all directions. People hate them because they win too much, they get too many calls, they get all the media, and people just dont like them. As a former Duke hater myself, I must say what bothered me the most was their unbelievably irritating fans. Now that I have become one myself, I understand even more why people hate Duke so much, they are good, they know it, don't mind showing it and don't care who hates them. Coach K has even gone as far as saying he loves the fact that people hate Duke as it provides his team with more motivation. That is good for his team as on Monday the only people in the WORLD supporting Duke will be nestled in a small place called Durham, North Carolina.
Then there are the Uconn Huskies and their now 77 game winning streak. Why wouldn't anyone hate them, they havent lost a game in 2 YEARS. In those 77 games they have won on average by 30 points and have yet to have a team come within single digits. No one likes a bully that beats up on people smaller than them and never taking on a real challenge. But Uconn beats up on teams its on size, teams in the top 10. So who can they pick on? Right now that team is Stanford and on Tuesday everyone in the world will be cheering for them to bring down the wicked witch of the east. Lucky for the Huskies their coach also loves to be hated.

Another Cinderella Story in the Making

We are reaching the end of the emotional rollercoaster that is March Madness, on the heels of baseball season, and NBA finals are around the corner. This is not the time of year when people have football on the brain. Nevertheless, the inspiring story of Butler got me thinking. The championship brackets are perfect for Cinderella stories like theirs; underrated mid-major teams with enough tenacity and heart that have 2 periods to put it all on the line and defeat opponents that all others would have you believe are bigger, faster, or stronger, in large part because of the “quality of their conference.”

Other the other side of intercollegiate play, college football appears to work against the underdog where big name conferences and big name programs are consistently the victor. That is unless you decide to make your own miracles like Boise State. Boise State went undefeated last season but as the way the BCS cookie crumbles, they were not able to make it to the championship game. Many argue that the Broncos have what it takes to play against the powerhouse programs and potentially even win.

Here are 5 reasons why Boise State may be the Cinderella story of the fall.

1. Boise should start high enough in the preseason rankings to be firmly in the mix for the top two teams in the final BCS standings. Last year they started out at #16 and were able to work their way up to #4. The problem is that the teams that control the Top 5 from the start are generally the only teams in serious contention for the title game. The Broncos are guaranteed a higher ranking this year and as long as they stay undefeated, they will be in good shape.
2. Boise state is bringing in the smallest recruiting class this year, which is one of the results of having the smallest senior class last year. The Broncos are returning 21 of 22 starters, including All-American candidate Kellen Moore at quarterback.
3. Few people really had Boise state on the radar at the start of last season. If their undefeated performance was not enough to catch your attention, they have two televised games this year that will keep them in the national spotlight. The first is a prime time game on Labor Day versus Virgina Tech at Fed Ex Field. Then they will be playing Oregon State at their home stadium on ABC.
4. Part of the criticism surrounding teams like Boise State is the level of the teams they play against. The VTech Hokies are expected to begin next season ranked in the top 10, and Oregon State made big moves this past year and was a serious contender this year in the Pac-10 crown. This year’s schedule is the first time since 2005 that Boise State has scheduled two opponents from automatic-qualifying conferences in the same season.
5. If the Broncos are able to reach the Big Show, that would make them the first team that is outside of the major six conferences to play for the championship since the beginning of the BCS system.

Photo of the Day: Bad News for Butler

West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins consoles forward Da'Sean Butler after he was injured during the second half against Duke in a men's NCAA Final Four semifinal college basketball game Saturday, April 3, 2010, in Indianapolis. It is reported that Butler suffered a torn ACL. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Photo of the Day: Fully Loaded

(AP Photo/Jason Miller)

Shaun Rogers is pictured above leaveing the Cleveland Police Headquarters where Rogers was charged with a felony count of carrying a concealed weapon at Cleveland Hopkings International airport on Thursday, April 1st. Rogers pleaded not guilty.

Photo of the Day: What the rest of the world does in March

While the start of April marks the end of March Madness and the start of NBA Playoffs and Baseball Spring Training, the rest of the world is prepping for the ultimate tournament brackets with the 2010 World Cup in South AfricaW around the corner. Standard Liege's IGOR DE CAMARGO heads the ball during the Europa League quarter final match against Hamburg at the HSH-Nordbank Arena. Hamburg beat Standards 2-1. (Credit Image: © Maurizio Gambarini/EPA/ZUMApress.com)

Photo of the Day: I'm Sorry Mama

STEVE NESIUS / Reuters

Uh Oh! Denard Span's mom was sitting in the stands watching her son lead off for the Minnesota Twins. One second she is her son's biggest fan the next second, Span hits a hard foul that comes zipping towards her and hits her in the chest. "As the ball was in the air, I realized that it was going after my mom" Span said in after the game interviews. "When I saw her go down, I just couldn't do nothing but go after her." He stayed with his mom until she finished receiving treatment by the paramedics. She suffered no major injuries.

Contenders or Pretenders

I feel like in the midst of March it is easy to forget that there is actually professional basketball going on at the same time. This is the rare part of the NBA season where you really start to get a sense of what you're going to be left with when everything shakes out for the playoffs. You see teams (rightfully so in my opinion) trying to tank in order to get better odds at the John Wall sweepstakes (rumor has it, the Nets have been touting this as their plan all along). You also see some teams trying to play themselves either into better seeding or just playing themselves into shape for a deep postseason run. Finally you can see those older teams start to dial it back as much as they can to get their starters some rest while not giving up too much ground to their surging contenders. What better time to breakdown who's really in this for the long haul and who's just there for window dressing....