Armchair Weekend in Review (August 24-26, 2007)

by JB82

Some MLB Highlights

• Two pitching performances, one good, one bad. We'll start with the latter:
  • Greg Maddux added to his storied career by getting his 10th win of the season in a 14-3 blowout of the Philadelphia Phillies. What made this notable was that it was the 20th season in a row that the San Diego Padres pitcher had at least ten wins. Only Don Sutton has more all time, with 21.
    • Later on in the weekend, the Phils would swing the hot bats themselves with a 14-2 rout. During his last start, Saratoga, NY's own Tim Stauffer was the opposition when Houston Astros pitcher Jason Jennings gave up 11 runs in the first inning alone. Stuaffer fave up the same number of runs, but lasted all of four innings in this game. Just a sidenote here...
  • Another bad performance (slightly) worth mentioning was Phillip Hughes. The once highly-touted New York Yankees pitching prospect all but gave up all five Detroit Tigers in six innings of work and took the 5-4 loss.

UFC Respect (and a lack thereof)

• The year 2007 will go down as one where the Over The Hill Gang made the headlines. From Roger Clemens to Julio Franco, the over-40 crowd has had moments in the sun. One such geriatric giant is UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture. The 44-year-old all but beat the hell out of Brazilian Gabriel Gonzaga, scoring a TKO via strikes at 1:37 of the third round at UFC 74 in Las Vegas to retain the belt. Gonzaga earned his title shot in one of the year's biggest upsets. At UFC 70 in Manchester, UK, Gonzaga upset Mirko Cro Cop with a kick to head which sent the latter down awkward.

• One of Gonzaga's fellow countrymen didn't get any in a preliminary card match. American David Heath came into the Octagon wearing a T-shirt with a mugshot of his opponent, Rafael "Babalu" Sobral, during an arrest. Sobral won the fight via submission at 3:30 of the second round, but ignored the referee's instructions by refusing to let go after the bell had been rung. Therefore, Sobral is having $25,000 of his purse withheld and further punishment may result after a hearing.

Back to the Spa

The same weekend Stauffer made his last MLB start, the meet at Saratoga Race Course wrapped up its first weekend with Street Sense winning the Jim Dandy Stakes. The big event of the meet, as is the case every year, is the Travers Stakes. Carl Nafzger's horse edged out Grasshopper to take the 138th edition under sultry skies, and jockey Calvin Borel became the toast of the town on Saturday night.

Let's take off (to the Great White North)

The weekend's CFL action featured a bit of a rarity: both games included a single scored via both a missed field goal and longer than usual punts.

• Rob Pikula got singles from 40 and 45 yards. In addition, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers kicker also actually made two chip shotsm and they made the difference in an otherwise dull 15-13 win over the Toronto Argonauts.

• Pikula's counterpart montréalais Damon Duval also did the same, getting his from 44 and 82 out, respectively, as well as 3-3 in the field goal department. Meanwhile, quarterback Anthony Calvillo went 30-44, throwing for 354 yards and a touchdown in a 27-9 rout over the Hamilton Tiger Cats, the Detroit Lions of the CFL.

• A glaring difference between the CFL and the NFL, as demonstrated already: you get no points for a punt that lands in the end zone. ;-)

Across the pond

• Manchester United's newest addition, Nani, sure went through a lot Sunday against Tottenham Hotspur. Nani suffered hits on the head and the leg, but bravely came back to score the lone goal in the 68th minute at Old Trafford, 1-0.

• Another 1-0 win was Sven-G&omul;ran Eriksson's first loss at Manchester City. You can thank (or blame) Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas and his goal with ten minutes left in regulation.

• Our grave concerns and get well wishes to Sevilla striker Antonio Puerta, who suffered cardiac arrest during a game on Saturday against Getafe at the home ground of the La Liga squad.
  • UPDATE (9/1/2007): Puerta died Tuesday (8/28/2007) at age 22; it is only the fifth time in which a player has died during a match.

Fast Track

• Kasey Kahne may have had a weekend to remember in Bristol, Tennessee, what with his win in the Busch Series race on Friday night and nabbing the Nextel Cup pole earlier in the day. But, Carl Edwards got all the glory in the Sharpie 500 and punched his ticket to the Chase for the Championship, along with Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart. Kahne finished second, and Jeff Gordon remains on top of the points standings despite finishing out of the top ten.

• Other weekend winners included Felipe Massa (Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix), Scott Dixon (IRL IndyCar at Sonoma, California) and Sébastien Bourdais (CCWS in Belgium).

Kudos

• ...to the Warner Robins, Georgia American Little League for winning the 2007 Little League World Series. Dalton Carricker clinched the Peach State's (and America's) third title in a row with a walk-off home run in the eighth inning (this was LL bonus cantos, as regulation games only last six innings as opposed to nine.)

• ...to James Blake. The proud product of Fairfield, Connecticut won the Pilot Pen tournament on the men's side on Saturday.

• ...to Steve Stricker, who opened up the PGA TOUR's ballyhooed "playoff" format with a win at the Barclays Classic at nearby Westchester Country Club. It was Striker's first win on tour since the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championships in 2001.

• ...to Lorena Ochoa, who scored a season threepeat with her win at the Safeway Classic in Portland, Oregon

The Ultimate Kudos

Dude of the Weekend

• Make that Dudettes of the Weekend. Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy: Two women who doublehandedly popularized women's soccer in the US were inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta, NY on Sunday.

Dope of the Weekend

• Major League Baseball: Friday night's game Yankees-Tigers game was scheduled for 7:05 PM EDT, but inclement weather in Detroit wound up pushing the start to after 11PM EDT – 11PM EDT, JERRY!!! As a result, it was a very late night for both teams, with the game ending at around 3:30 AM EDT Saturday morning with a 9-6 Tiger win in 11 innings. Good job, MLB; thanks for making the folks at Comerica Park sit on their hands for four hours. You deserved this award, and how.

Kudos 2 U for reading

US College Football starts next weekend, so get ready for that. Until then, as always, let's all be good sports...