NFL - Pittsburgh clip Ravens
September 30, 2008
Going into week four of NFL action there were six undefeated teams. Coming out the other end, three remain. Three of the six to taste defeat for the first time this season were the Denver Broncos who lost to divisional rivals the Kansas City Chiefs 33-19, the Baltimore Ravens who were pipped at the post by a Pittsburgh field goal and Dallas who lost a close match against Washington 26-24.
The three remaining undefeated teams include the current Super Bowl champions, New York Giants who had a bye this week, Buffalo Bills who defeated the winless St. Louis Rams 31-14 and Tennessee Titans who defeated the Minnesota Vikings 30-17.
The Ravens played Pittsburgh in the Monday night game. The winner would lead the AFC North. After both teams got off to a slow start with a field goal each in the first quarter it was Baltimore who surged to the lead in the second. The score was 13-3 at the half.
Pittsburgh hit back with two touchdowns in the third quarter to setup an interesting finish. In the end the match was decided by an overtime field goal by Pittsburgh’s Jeff Reed who snuck over a 46-yard attempt.
Bruce Spingsteen to entertain crowd at Super Bowl XLIII
September 30, 2008
The NFL has announced that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will entertain the crowd and the live audience of millions during the halftime show for Super Bowl XLIII.
The NFL Super Bowl XLIII is scheduled to be played on February 1, 2009 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, the second Super Bowl at this venue and the fourth overall in that city.
The halftime show is the most watched annual musical performance. Over recent times it is perhaps best remembered for the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction at Super Bowl XXXVIII in Houston in 2004.
The first halftime show at a Super Bowl took place in 1967 at Super Bowl I. It was played on January 15, 1967 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. The show involved the marching bands from the University of Arizona and Grambling State University. In 1988 at Super Bowl XXII Chubby Checker started the tradition of big name musicians taking part in the show. Since then big name acts such as The Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Shania Twain, Diana Ross and U2 have performed.
You can read more about the first Super Bowl halftime show at the AZcentral.com website. A list of Super Bowl halftime show performers is at Wikipedia.
Building the New York Yankees Dynasty
September 29, 2008
The Yankees are popular to be one of the best baseball teams there is. The team has the most number of championships in baseball history. They have earned thirty-nine American League banners and they also have a total of twenty-six World Series titles.
The team has a rich history before becoming one of the most envied teams in the Major league Baseball. It started when the National League hindered the American League from putting a team in New York. Because of this, the American League opted to establish the team in Baltimore instead. This gave birth to the Baltimore Orioles.
John McGraw was part owner of the Orioles. He was also assisting the Giants at that time and has slowly gained control. He caused conflicts when he started to raid for players, the American League has to look into the matter. In order to settle the issue, a conference with the National League took place. This led to an agreement that allowed the AL to have a team in New York. As a result, the Orioles moved to New York, thus the New York Highlanders emerged. However, the name New York Yankees would pop up from time to time until it became the popular name of the team.
After moving to New York in 1903, the team had several encounter with the AL pennant. However, it was not only in 1921 that they finally earned their first. This also marked their first World Series Appearance where they faced their rival, the New York Giants. The Giants took home the World Series. The same scenario occurred in 1922, again, the Yankees failed to win the World Series. They faced the Giants for the third consecutive time in 1923. This time, they successfully took home the championship. It marked the beginning of their domination.
Many take into account the success of the team to the purchase of one of the greatest baseball players of all time, Babe Ruth. The Boston Red Sox sold him to the Yankees in 1919. The sale has even given birth to one of the most popular sports curses, the curse of the Bambino.
Ruth has helped the Yankees travelled a successful route. Many would say that Babe Ruth is accountable for the building of the Yankee stadium since it was his impressive home runs that draw people to watch the game. Some would call the stadium as the House that Ruth Built.
However, no baseball team is a one-man team. Although Babe Ruth is very talented, his team should get credit as well. The Yankees team gave birth to the Murderer’s Row. This was a name given to the strong lineup of the New York Yankees led by Babe Ruth. Many said that their lineup in 1927 was the strongest in baseball history.
After Babe Ruth, several talented players played for the team. Some of them were Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, and Yogi Berra.
The team holds the records for the most number consecutive years of World Series won. This took place in 1949 to 1953.
Most of the greatest players in baseball history played with the team. No wonder why they keep on winning championship titles even after Ruth retired.
Rick Grantham is an expert on sports equipment, specially on New York Yankees Merchandise for more information on Major League Merchandise, visit BooYah Village.
Pit tangle costs Massa in Singapore Grand Prix
September 29, 2008
Felipe Massa has seen his chances of winning the formula one drivers championship slide in the Singapore f1 grand prix thanks to a tangled fuel hose.
The ferrari driver was leading the race when a crash by Piquet on lap 14 saw the safety car come out. In the rush that followed in the pits Massa was held up by the sloppy pit work. Massa saw green in his car howeve the fuel hose was still attached, he drove off and knocked over a mechanic as the hose tore loose. After rejoining the race at the end of the field he was later further hampered with a 10 second stop go penalty.
In the end it was Hamilton who took advantage of Massa’s misfortune. Hamilton scored six valuable points thanks to a third place finish while Massa did not collect any points coming home in 13th position. Raikkonen also missed out on the points after he crashed out of the race on the 58th lap while battling Glock for fourth place .
The surprise winner in the first ever night Grand Prix was Renault’s Fernando Alonso, thanks in part to his team mate Nelson Piquet. It was Piquet’s crash that changed the race dramatically. In the reshuffle that followed the safety car period the pit lane action Alonso found himself in a good position.
After the first safety car period Hamilton was in fourth behind David Coultard. Hamilton was frustrated by the pace of the Red Bull driver as he was losing a second a lap. This cost him any chance of winning unless those in front failed. In the end his two main rivals completed the race out of the points so third place was good enough on the night.
Alonso will now go down as the winner of the first night grand prix. It is his first victory since Monza in 2007. Rosberg took second which is a career best result for him.
Hamilton leads the drivers championship by seven points with three races remaining. McLaren has also gone to the lead in the constructors race. The next formula one grand prix will be in Japan on the weekend of 10-12 October.
Jankovic wins China Open, Kirilenko win Korea Open
September 28, 2008
The number one seeded Jelana Jankovic has won the China Open played in Beijing. She defeating no. 4 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-2. Jankovic in 2006 lost in the semis at the Beijing tournament. Last year she improved only to lose the final to Anges Szavay. Today she continued her progression and claimed the title.
The China Open title is the second one won by Jankovic this season. He other title came on clay in Rome. She recently made her first grand slam final losing to Serena Williams in the US Open.
Over in Seoul, South Korea Maria Kirilenko defeated Australia’s Samantha Stosur 2-6, 6-1, 6-4. Like Jankovic in the China Open Kirilenko stepped up from being the beaten finalist in 2007 to take the title in 2008.
Stosur was playing in her fourth career WTA singles final and was hoping to win her first title. Despite winning the first set she is still winless in tournament finals.
Roddick wins the China Open in Beijing
September 28, 2008
Andy Roddick has claimed his 26th career ATP singles title with a win at the China Open. He defeated first time finalist Dudi Sela from Israel. The final score was 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-3.
After the match Roddick announced he would donate $25,000 of his prize money to the Chinese Tennis Association (CTA) to help with assistance to the people who were victims of the terrible Sichuan earthquake.
The title in Beijing is title no. three for the 2008 ATP season.
You can read more about Roddick’s China Open tennis win at the ATP website
Arsenal lose top spot after shock loss to Hull City
September 28, 2008
Premier League newcomers Hull City have prevented Arsenal from going back to the top of the ladder after a surprise win at Arsenal’s home ground. Liverpool and Chelsea had taken top spot earlier in the day after both had 2-0 wins against Everton and Stoke City.
Arsenal playing the late game would have gone to the top of the ladder with a win over Hull City who are playing in the Premier League for the first time. The result brought an end to Arsenal’s unbeaten run of 17 months at home. Hull City is now just one point behind Arsenal on the Premier League ladder with 11 points from 6 matches.
Arsenal took the lead in the 50th minute thanks to an own goal by Hull City. Geovanni levelled the scores with a spectacular effort on the 61 minute mark. The winning goal came just five minutes later when Daniel Cousin’s headed home.
For a full Arsenal - Hull City match report visit the Premier League website.
In the 208th Merseyside derby it was the men in red who got over the men in blue. Liverpool’s Fernando Torres struck twice to give his team a 2-0 victory.
For a full Liverpool - Everton match report visit the Premier League website.
Chelsea went top of the English premier league table after they defeated Stoke City 2-0. Chelsea are level on points with Liverpool, both teams have 14 points. Chelsea are ahead on goal difference. The win came thanks to the first goal in Chelsea colours for Jose Bosingwa and a goal setup by Bosingwa that was scored by Nicolas Anelka.
For a full Chelsea - Stoke City match report visit the Premier League website.
After a poor start to the season Manchester United have edged closer to the top of the Premier League after a 2-0 win over Bolton Wanderers. The first goal was scored for Man Utd from the penalty spot when Cristiano Ronaldo beat the keeper on the 60 minute mark. Wayne Rooney who came on as a substitute scored six minutes after joining the game. His goal was scored at the 77 minute mark of the match.
For a full Man Utd - Stoke City match report visite the Premier League website.
Massa claims first ever night grand prix pole in Singapore
September 28, 2008
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa has claimed pole positon for Sunday’s historic night Singapore Grand Prix. He described the lap that he recorded the fastest time as a ‘perfect lap’. He was thinking to himself as he approached the final turn do I go for it or ease off. He decided to keep the foot down.
The time Massa recorded is well ahead of second placed Lewis Hamilton. Massa grabbed pole with his lap time of 1m 44.801s ahead of Hamilton’s lap of 1m 45.465. The current world champion, Kimi Raikkonen was took third with a time of 1m 45.617s. Raikkonen was troubled by an electronic problem so may have been able to go quicker.
It is thought Massa had a lighter fuel load when he set his fast time. Massa goes into the Singapore grand prix just one point behind Hamilton in the driver’s championship.
Hamilton was on the edge of missing the final 10 shootout as he placed 10th in the previous session. Mark Webber and David Coultard were both on the track after Hamilton and could have edged him out of the top ten.
The Singapore grand prix starts at 8.00pm local time and is the first ever formula one grand prix to be driven under lights.
Manly setup grand final rematch with Melbourne Storm
September 27, 2008
Manly has matched Melbourne Storm with a convincing win over the New Zealand Warriors to move into next Sunday’s NRL grand final. This will be a rematch of last year’s grand final which was won by the Melbourne Storm.
Last night the Storm convincingly defeated the Cronulla Sharks 28-0. Manly almost matched that winning margin with a 32-6 win in tonights match.
Manly took a 12-0 lead into the halftime break. This came through tries to Brent Stewart and Steve Menzies. The try to Menzies came after some great leadup work as Manly moved the ball through plenty of sets of hands to create an overlap on the right side of the field. The ever present Menzies was there to score the four pointer.
Another entertaining try was scored by Manly in the second half. It involved a between the legs pass for Matai to score. Overall the Manly team dominated as you can see from the scoreline. They attacked with very few errors and had a great completion rate and also their defence was solid.
Manly were ahead 32-0 before the Warriors finally scored their first points in the 75th minute. This came thanks to a try by Aidan Kirk.
Jamie Lyon was named man of the match in the channel nine coverage of the game. He helped setup a try after catching the ball from his own bomb and then as he fell to the ground in a tackle he popped up the ball for Orford to score.
Now the focus is on the grand final. Manly have a few injury concerns coming out of the match against the Warriors. One is Orford. He is a key player in the Manly side. Tonight he shared the kicking role with Jamie Lyon which took some pressure off Orford.
Last year Melbourne Storm thrashed Manly 34-8 in the premiership decider. Manly will of course be keen to turn around that result and send out Steve Menzies with a grand final win. Now that Manly have made the grand final Menzies will equal Terry Lamb’s record of 349 first grade games.
Who is your pick for the 2008 NRL rugby league premiership? Love to hear from you.
Melbourne Storm march into another grand final
September 26, 2008
Finals football is all about experience and coping with the pressure of the big matches at this time of year. The Cronulla Sharks have played like gummy sharks in the first 30 minutes of the their match against the Melbourne Storm.
The result was that they let the defending champs build up a sizeable lead by the halftime break. The first try came for the storm via a Cooper Cronk kick that setup Steve Turner after just a hand full of minutes. Cronk was again instrumental helping Israel Folau over for the second try to make it 10-0.
In the opening 30 minutes the Sharks were turning the ball over too often to mount any pressure on a Melbourne side that had gone into the match on the back of two tough matches. They escaped with a win last week against Brisbane in the last minute.
Adam Blair of the Melbourne Storm made it a tough ask for the Cronulla team to come back from 16-0 as he scored his first ever try in the NRL when he stretched out to score despite plenty of attention from Sharks defenders.The try came just five minutes before the halftime break.
Down 16-0 at the start of the second half you could have expected the Sharks to throw in the towel. To their credit they looked a lot sharper in the early stages of the second half and had the Storm on the ropes. You could see the effect of the two tough matches they had played in the finals series as the players just managed to get themselves around the field.
To the credit of the Storm players, playing without three star players they defended magnificiently and despite the Sharks throwing the ball around in good attacking football they kept them scoreless.
To make matters worse for the Sharks the Storm managed to run in a few more tries.
The final score was 28-0. Steve Turner picked up his second try of the match after a nice cut back inside to beat the fullback. Matt Geyer also chimed in for a try after a good run by Billy Slater set Geyer up with an easy run to the line.
The loss for the Sharks signalled farewell for Sharks trio Isaac de Gois, Brett Kimmorley and Danny Nutley, who all played their final game for the Sharks.
All credit to the Melbourne Storm who will now play in their third consecutive grand final. Their opponent will be decided tomorrow night as the Manly Sea Eagles take on the New Zealand Warriors for a grand final spot.
