Olympics Gone Wild

The Winter Olympics come every four years it is the chance for the winter athletes to show there skills to world to compete to see who is the best. So far this has been an exciting event for Team USA as they are in the lead for the most medals earned by a country at this point in the games. The games have a little bit of everything for the average fan that isn’t a normal fan of winter games. I am one of these fans before this year Olympic Games I never looked forward to the event because I’m normally just a fan of the Xgames type events. But this year I have followed the games and become a fan of sports I never thought I would follow. I have watched the drama unfold as both the men and women curling team has struggled, in years past this was an event that I would make fun of but now I love it. I have also followed the hockey, being from Kentucky hockey isn’t the most popular sport so I don’t understand a lot of the rules. But I am learning and have enjoyed watching Team USA defeat Canada last night as the Americans won a game that they was supposed to lose to get a bye to move them on in the tournament. As always I watched the snowboarding half pipe competition for the men and watched American’s Shaun White and Scotty Lago medal for the USA.

Snowboarding bronze medalist Lago has brought a lot of unwanted drama to the games as he was had a photo took of him celebrating his win. Celebrating isn’t a bad thing but the act that was going down put his values of a representative from the United States at risk. The paparazzi got a photo of a young lady kissing his bronze medal in an inappropriate place and with his medal her mouth. These actions lead to Lago leaving Vancouver before the closing ceremony and on his own will or so we thought. According to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports, the United States Skiing and Snowboarding Association (USSA) gave him the option of leaving on his own or risking going before an Olympic trial process and risking being ejected from the games. Lago plans to participate in future games so he chose to leave on his own will so he didn’t risk being banned from the games.

Now I am not saying this was not a disrespectful act toward your country and the games itself, but Lago didn’t do anything Illegal. His event was over and would not have been in front of the cameras any more in the event so I feel He should not have been asked or forced to leave the games. He is a young athlete in an extreme sport which brings a different lifestyle to the games that it has not in the past. Lago was acting as any 23 years old would who just won a major sporting event, he apologized for his actions and while the action was distasteful he shouldn’t have been treated the way he was and should have been allowed to stay and enjoy the games which his friends and teammates

Call Me

It was a wild night in Mississippi when the number two ranked Kentucky Wildcats played the Bulldogs of Mississippi State University. The drama started way before tip off could even get tipped, the students from MSU some how received the cell phone number of DeMarcus Cousins and has been calling and sending him text messages for a week, which lead him to play a great game. The Cats also had to play a game in front of the biggest crowd to ever show up at “The Hump” so this was a big game.

The game was a close game from the start and it was also a physical one, which lead to several players taking shots from the free throw line. As a team the Cats made 21 free throws of 31 attempted this is what kept the Cats in the game. This is a very young team who has a desire to win as we saw last night in the overtime victory. It was game with several lead changes and ties with a final score of 81-75. It was a great game for three of the Cats as Cousins, Patrick Patterson, and John Wall all had a double-double, this makes Cousins 17th on the season. Cousins also played most of the second half with four fouls and never fouled out of the game which shows his determination and growth since earlier in the year. This freshman used to wear his emotions on his sleeve which he had trouble doing a month ago.

But as I said this was a wild night in the last seconds of the game the students section went crazy as someone threw a soda on the court which delayed the game so they could clean up the court. While the Cats was leaving the court the danger began as more stuff come flying from the stands and Coach Cal rushed his team off of the court. During a post game interview Cal said “We made plays. We made shots. We made blocks. We did enough to win the game and now we're going to get out of here,” as he rushed off the court to be with his team.

With this win this puts the Cats at 25-1 and they still hold the number one spot in the SEC east. The Cats have today off and they will get back to work on Thursday as they get ready to play on the road against Vanderbilt University on Saturday.

Happy Truck Day 2010

Well Red Sox fans the day is finally here it is truck day the official start of spring to die hard sox fans. Today is the day that Fenway Park gets packed up to send off to Ft. Myers, Florida for the start of spring training, this has become an annual event in Boston. The truck got to Fenway around 6:30 a.m. and they started the work around 7 a.m. and was packed and left out for its journey around noon today.

The lucky company that gets the privilege to transport the items on its journey is New England Household Moving and Storage; this is the 12th year straight that they used them to move the items to Florida. The man behind the truck is Al Hartz he has became a local hero because he has manned the truck all 12 years.

This day brings us closer to the start of spring training with pitchers and catchers reporting on Feb. 18th and with the first full squad work out being Feb. 24th. This is first of many exciting days to come for Red Sox fans.

Photo and Video from Steve Silva / Boston.com

How to make 6 go into 5

Is there such thing as too much pitching? I say no such thing. The reason I bring up this topic is because the Red Sox run a five man pitching rotation but they have six starting pitchers going into spring training. Like I said, there is no such thing as too much pitching as we learned last year with Daisuke Matsuzaka having such a poor season due to injury that he received during the World Baseball Classic last year. Then you had Brad Penny, who is a natural National League pitcher who as we saw last season proved he doesn’t belong in the American League. They also had a short stint which future hall of famer John Smoltz who coming off injury didn’t have much to offer the team. So the team was down the stretch using pitcher Paul Byrd who had been throwing batting practice to his kid’s team all season instead of even going to spring training and didn’t start the season until August. But hopefully all that is in our past.

This season we go into the season with six starting pitchers we have in my opinion three ace pitchers in Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and John Lackey who all be the number one pitcher. Then we have three pitchers who can feel the four and five spot, in Daisuke Matsuzaka, Clay Buchholz, and the veteran knuckle baller Tim Wakefield.

Who will feel the four and five spot? Well it is reported that Matsuzaka is in great shape as He has been preparing for the season in Arizona and that he will be ready for the season. I feel He will hold the four spot not only because he is ready for the season but also because of his $104 million contract that they don’t want to waste by having him on the bench. Plus we know that he can be a winner when he is healthy he has had an 18 win season in the past so we know he has it in him some were.

So know we move on the youthful Buchholz, last season Buch went 7-4 in 16 starts, with a 4.21 ERA. This will make his fourth season in the majors but I feel this will be his first full season in a Boston Red Sox uniform. He has not yet proved to be a great pitcher but I feel He is growing in to the spot more and more each year. His clam to fame is his 2007 no hitter against the Orioles. Though life time pro winning percentage is below .500 but I feel a full season will help him.

But we also have Wakefield who has gone in front of the press stressing that he deserves a spot in the line up. He is coming off his first all-star season and also coming off of a back surgery. It makes me iffy as to weather he will have a great season or not, He is a knuckleball pitcher which means he is not a consistent with his wins. This will make Tim’s 18th year in the league and his 17th as a member of the Red Sox. He is on a 2 year contract so he is looking upon retirement soon, so should the organization respect him and give him a spot in the retirement? I say yes but if we look back to last year he was so broken down by the all-star break that he had to set out several games. So what should you do allow him to pitch until he gets hurt again or just save him for the second half of the season? I do you think that Wakefield would be happy if he was saved for the second half so what do you do?

I have a solution to this problem we know that the spots 1 through 4 are filled but we have to fill the 5 spot but we have two pitchers and only one spot. I say allow them to share the 5 spot that way Clay can work his way up to becoming a great pitcher of the future that we know he can be, and Wake gets his starts and doesn’t over work his body to allow him to play a whole season. The 5 spot pitch in most cases doesn’t get to pitch in the post season, so it isn’t they are your most important pitcher they are in there to win a game every 5 days. If you share the spot you only have to worry about winning a game every 10 days which will make the body fresher and allow you to work on the mechanics in the off days to allow them to make the win on the days they are called on.

The Red Sox have one of the best starting pitching in all of baseball this season as long as everyone stays healthy. If what they say about pitching wins championships, then this is the year for the Sox.

What a Week!

Wow, what an exciting week for the Kentucky Wildcats. The week for the Cats started with there first number one ranking since the 2002-2003 season, for most teams that would be the highlight of there week but not for coach John Calipari’s team.

On Tuesday, the cats received a call from President Obama congratulating them on outstanding work with the “Hoops for Haiti” telethon with raised over 1.5 million dollars for the people in need in Haiti after the earthquake tragedies that happened recently. Now as you can tell this is high point of most of these kids lives they walk into a game against an unranked South Carolina team thinking that they was going to walk all of over them. Well they were wrong the game cocks showed up to play and they didn’t care that the cats was number one. All that was on the game cocks mind is they wanted to continue there two win streak over the Cats from last season.

So the cats were upset not two full days after being named number one. So you think man that really is an eventful week, well that week isn’t over yet. Saturday the cats took the court at home after that lose with a vengeance that they was going to prove that they deserved to be on top of the polls with a decent game but not a great game against a very hot Vanderbilt team that was on a 10-0 streak coming into Rupp Arena. If all that was not enough they had to play this game with in my opinion one of the best players in the game today in the audience, LeBron James! It is very well known that LeBron and Coach Cal are close friends but who knew that he was also close with freshmen phenom John Wall. James also graced the crowd doing the legendary "Y" that is performed by a fan from the crowd that always happens during the first time out of the second half.

With the all-star on hand you knew they was going to put on a show the Cats put up an 85-72 victory, in which was one of the highest foul count game I have ever watched with 58 fouls. It felt like someone was at the line every other play and this killed the flow of the game. It did not seem to bother the Cats’ freshman DeMarcus Cousins who had his 12th double-double of the season. He lead the team with 21 points and 10 rebounds, he could not be stopped in the paint. This was also a game were junior Patrick Patterson had some what of a bounce back game were he had 12 points and 4 rebounds were He went 3-4 from the 3-point line. I don’t understand him playing so far back on the court but he was very effective from that position on Saturday. Wall also helped the team with 13 points and 9 assist. This was a good game and a game the cats played there hearts out to prove they deserve to be on top.

With that being said they did lose this week so they will more then likely fall out of the top spot and with Kansas have a close victory over Kansas State. I feel that Kansas will regain the top spot. They held the number one spot for nine weeks this season, until getting upset by Tennessee. There is plenty of basketball to be played until march madness comes around and I am excited to see how the rest of the season plays out and what other kind of exciting things are in store for the cats.

Video of LeBron James giving the "Y"

There's No Crying in Baseball, But There is Cheating

When you think of baseball you think of America’s favorite past time. You think about the good moments in the games history you think of Babe Ruth hitting home runs, Ted Williams and his incredible hitting percentage, you think of all the great pitchers that played the game Cy Young, Lefty Grove, Smokey Joe Wood and plenty more after them. You think about the great Hall of Fame players that made the game what it is today. But there is also a darker side to the game that has been darkened my scandals through out the history with players cheating.

This darker side of the game coming back in to the limelight of the media recently with Mark McGwire the second place all time single season home run leader with 70 home runs admitted that he was a user of steroids during his career at Oakland and St. Louis and during the 1998 season. Now I know to most people this is no news but he is also up for a spot in the Hall of Fame for the second time being on the ballot he is way below the number that he needs to enter the Hall. There are people asking should he be allowed in even though he cheated the game and my answer is yes. You ask why I say yes, for one if not for that great home run race between in 1998 between McGwire and Sammy Sosa the following of the game would not be the same that it is today. Interest in baseball was not at the high point that it is today before this because of the strike near the end of the 1994 season people had lost interest in the game of baseball, so for that I thank those guys for that race. But even if had not used performance enhancing drugs they do not increase the likely hood of you hitting a ball, now I’m not saying it won’t help you hit it farther yes I know that the power adders allows you to spring the bat easier and hit the ball farther. With that being said just imagine what his on-base percentage would have been because he was a solid hitter. He hit 49 home runs as a rookie. I just feel with his ability to hit the ball the way he did and the way he saved the game we all love so much he should be allowed in to the hall.

But people are going to say the Hall of Fame should be pure and no cheaters should be allowed in to the Hall. Well I agree the Hall should be pure but it isn’t it is already full of players who has cheated the game like Gaylord Perry who won 314 games and became a member of the Hall. How did he get there he got there by throwing spitball pitches and changing the surface of the ball by scuffing or mudding it that was his claim to fame. Now some of you are going to say that was allowed well Perry played in the 60’s and 70’s the spitball was outlawed in the game of baseball in 1920. This made the spitball and illegal pitch to be thrown and should be counted as a ball. You say that is just one example how about Whitey Ford he did the same thing even after the spitball was outlawed. Should these players who cheated be allowed in the Hall? You have Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby one of the greatest players to man the second bag that wrote and article that was titled “You’ve Got to Cheat to Win” were he talks about players doing illegal acts such as spiking players and other foul things to win the game. Should he be allowed in the Hall? What about all the players that we looked up to that was involved in scandals over the years of the game, no not all have entered the great Hall but some hold high honors in the game. You have players who admit to so many forms of cheating were it be doctoring balls, throwing spitballs, corking bats, or even worse doing drugs and not just steroids you have players admitting to using LSD and cocaine but we will look to these people because we want to be entertained. I am not saying it is ok to cheat on the game that we love so much, but what I am saying is the game is full of cheaters. This is not a new thing that has just popped up, there has been people cheating probably since or during the first game of baseball and plenty that are members of our highest honor in the game so why should they be allowed to be members when Mark McGwire who did the same thing is left out. Cheating is cheating and that is all I have to say.

Bulldog Baseball 2010 preview

With 2010 finally here it is almost time for college baseball to come back around, 2010 also brings the end of a decade that has brought great things to the program we have saw two great coaches come to the program we started the decade with the college current Athletics Director Darin Wilson he was with the program from 99-03 I know that 99 is not part of the decade but his tenure as head coach he held a record of 161-106-1 with a .601 winning percentage but in 2003 he took over as AD and that brought on the era of current head coach Bart Osborne who has had an excellent time here so far. Osborne holds a record of 258-101 and has the highest winning percentage of any coach to be in charge of the bulldog team with a .719. He has had a 40+ win season the past 5 of his 6 years with the team. But with all this being said we had a great past 10 year but it is time for the new season to begin and the bulldogs go in to the season ranked 16 in the NAIA preseason poll. The Bulldogs are set to play 51 games in 2010 with 31 of these battles at home and 20 road games. The team is playing 8 teams that received votes in the poll as well. This will be a very tough schedule for the bulldogs that lost several key players after last season. I don’t think lose of those players will effect the bulldogs that much as they go in the play. The team has strong senior leadership with 10 seniors in several different positions on the field. The Bulldogs Open there season at Home on Feb. 6th against local rivals University of the Cumberlands Patriots, this game will take place at 1 pm. It looks to be a tough exciting season for the bulldogs that we can hope will finish with an AAC championship this season so that they can return to the national tournament like they have done in the past.