all world sport

Soccer club rivalries

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 7 May 2012 06:38:00 -0700

Real Madrid vs Barca

The rivalry between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, in Spain, is generally considered to be the biggest in football, and is similar in context to Celtic – Rangers. From the start the clubs were seen as representatives of two rival regions in Spain, Catalonia and Castile respectively, as well as the two cities themselves. In the 1950s, the rivalry was intensified further when the clubs disputed the signing of Alfredo Di Stéfano, who finally played for Real Madrid and was key in the subsequent success achieved by the club.

As Barcelona and Real Madrid are the two biggest, and most successful, clubs in Spain, the rivalry impacts the league championship on an almost annual basis. The flash-points of this rivalry are the twice-a-season clásicos, which draw vast audiences from around the world. Real has won

more La Liga and Champions League titles than Barça, but Barça has won more Spanish Cups, Cup Winners Cups and UEFA Cups. Also Barça became the first Spanish team to win the treble (2008–2009). In 2009, they won six competitions, becoming the first team to win all competitions they entered in a calendar year. The rivalry has also been strengthened throughout time by Real Madrid and Barcelona top players who have defected to their arch-rival. Notable Barcelona players who have later played for Real Madrid include Bernd Schuster (1988), Michael Laudrup (1994) and Luís Figo (2000). Luis Enrique switched from Real Madrid to Barcelona in 1996 and went on to captain the Blaugrana.

A 2007 survey by the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas determined that Real Madrid was the team with the largest following in Spain with 32.8% of football fans, while Barcelona had 25.7%. The next team, Valencia CF, was 5.3%. Barcelona in turn seems to be the most popular team in Europe. According to a survey made by SPORT+MARKT in 2009, Barcelona have about 44.2 million supporters throughout Europe, which is about 2.9 million more than the number of Real Madrid supporters.

Corinthians vs Palmeiras

Derby Paulista is a name that is known among the traditional São Paulo soccer clubs, Sport Club Corinthians Paulista and Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras. It is the rivalry between two football clubs still active in the oldest city of São Paulo. The Derby Paulista is among the 10 greatest classics of the world. Corinthians and Palmeiras have already decided state championships (Campeonato Paulista), regional (Torneio Rio-São Paulo), national (Campeonato Brasileiro) and wave to the end of continental competition (Libertadores Cup of America). No other classic has decided so many major championships.

A big rivalry in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, SE Palmeiras and Corinthians have always drawn a lot of attention when they face off against each other. There have been books written and movies shot about this rivalry, including a version of Romeo and Juliet where Palmeiras and Corinthians take the place of the Montagues and Capulets.

Nacional vs Penarol

One of football’s classic derbies, since the late 19th century, the Uruguayan Clásico is the confrontation between the two greatest teams of Montevideo: Nacional and Peñarol. Both teams have played a big part in developing South American football, and are respected in the Americas and worldwide, despite their recent lack of international success. Together they make up 8 Copa Libertadores and 6 Intercontinental Cups.

The 0-0 draw of 14 April, 1990, was not for lacking a good fight, 22 red cards, 11 each side, (Nacional-9 field players and 2 bench players). The match ended at 85′ for the rule of less than 7 players. Then the 1-1 match of 26 November, 2000, ended in another confrontation with several boxing and karate kicks and chops, in which 9 players had to spend a month in jail, along with one of the coaches. Two editions of the match were played abroad, one in La Plata (Argentina) in 1960, the other in La Coruña (Spain) in 2005, due to the risk of local crowd interruption & brawling.

Fenerbahce vs Galatasaray

Fenerbahçe SK versus Galatasaray SK is a Turkish football rivalry involving two of the most successful clubs in the Süper Lig. It is also a local derby, one of many involving Istanbul clubs. The rivalry is more than a century in existence, and has developed into an intense and often bitter one, traditionally attracting large attendances. Both clubs compete against each other for the title of the most successful football club in Turkey, as well as the greatest Turkish sports club overall. Their football departments have always been the most attractive among their fans, but the rivalry also extends into other team sports such as basketball, volleyball, athletics, rowing. Galatasaray SK is the more successful of the two, having won 68 official titles compared to Fenerbahçe SK’s 66 titles. Fenerbahe SK is the most successful in their head-to-head fixtures, while Galatasaray SK boasts of their achievement in winning the 2000 UEFA Cup Final and the 2000 UEFA Super Cup, being the only Turkish side to have won them so far.

Internazionale vs Milan

Derby della Madonnina, or the Milan Derby as it is sometimes known, is a football match between the Italian clubs Associazione Calcio Milan and Football Club Internazionale Milano. It is a hotly contested local derby and is one of the most followed derbies in the football world. Along with the Rome and Turin derbies, it is widely considered one of the major cross-town derbies in the Serie A, so much so that only selected referees may officiate whenever these teams meet. It is a biannual fixture in the Italian football league Serie A; however, the derby has also taken place in the Coppa Italia and the UEFA Champions League. It is the only derby in Europe played by two teams which have been champions of Europe and the world. It is called “Derby della Madonnina” in honor of one of the main sights of the city of Milan, the statue of the Virgin Mary on the top of the Duomo, which is usually called “Madonnina”.

Liverpool vs Manchester United

The history between Liverpool and Manchester United is one of the most significant sporting rivalries in football, sometimes referred to as the North West derby. Both clubs hail from the North West of England, they are also the two most successful teams in England, and between them they have won 115 honors. With Manchester United’s victory in the Premier League season 2008-09, the two clubs are tied with 18 league titles in England. Despite Liverpool’s success in England, they have failed to win the Premier League, since its founding in 1992. Winning the League Cup in 2010, Manchester United set a new English record of 33 domestic honors – moving one clear of the Merseysiders for the first time. As well as competing on the football pitch, both teams are also two of the biggest-earning, and widely-supported, football clubs in the world. The rivalry has extended to the players as well.

Internazionale vs Juventus

The name Derby d’Italia (Italian for “Derby of Italy”) was coined back in 1967, by the famous Italian sports journalist Gianni Brera, as the biannual football fixture in Italian football between Internazionale of Milan and Juventus of Turin. The name was also given to this fixture as Inter and Juventus were (as in 1967) the two teams with the highest number of international (the first) and national (the latter) honors.

The matchup between Juventus and Inter is one of the most intense derby matches in Italy, between two teams not from the same city. The two teams are also ranked first and second in wins and goals in Serie A history. The match features two clubs who have never been relegated from the Serie A (prior to the Calciopoli scandal in which Juventus were forcefully relegated for their role in it).

Boca Juniors vs River Plate

Superclásico is the name used to describe the football match in Argentina between Buenos Aires rivals Boca Juniors and River Plate. It derives from the Spanish usage of “clásico” to mean derby, with the prefix “super” used as the two clubs are the most popular and successful clubs in Argentine football. Due to their huge fan bases (Boca has 40% of the Argentine population and River 33%), and remarkable success, the enmity encompasses a major part of the country’s populace. Known worldwide for the passion of the fans, the stands of both teams are loaded with passionate songs (often based on popular Argentine rock band tunes) against their rivals, fireworks, flags and rolls of paper, and sometimes end in riots between the most ardent supporters of both sides, or against the police. Tourists from around the globe come to Argentina to watch the match, sometimes even with packages that include a ticket to the Superclásico.

The Superclásico is known worldwide as one of the fiercest and most important derbies. In April 2004, the English newspaper, The Observer, put the Superclásico at the top of their list of “50 sporting things you must do before you die”, saying that “Derby day in Buenos Aires makes the Old Firm game look like a primary school kick-about.”

Celtic vs Rangers

One of the biggest and most intense derbies in the world, the Old Firm derby between Scottish teams Celtic and Rangers, is more than a football match – it pits religion, politics and opposing social attitudes against each other. Both clubs play in Glasgow, Scotland, and the match is one of the oldest derbies in the world, dating back to 1888. The Old Firm derby is also one of the most contested matches in the world, with over 370 games having been played. The matches are played at either Ibrox Stadium with 51,000 fans, or Celtic Park in front of 60,000. In some cases, the match is played at Hampden Park, if the tie happens to be a Scottish Cup or Scottish League Cup final or semi-final. Both teams have won many titles, but currently Rangers are ahead of Celtic with 53 league titles to 42. The most recent Old Firm ended Celtic 2-1 Rangers.

This rivalry is considered by many to be one of the most fervent in the world, with amazing atmospheres and loud chanting, it is easy to understand why it is. Millions tune in to the Old Firm derby across the globe. Rangers are considered a Protestant club with Unionist and loyalist supporters, while Celtic are considered a Catholic club with Republican and Nationalist supporters. It has long had connections with the political conflict in Northern Ireland, with thousands of fans from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland making the trip to Scotland for these matches. There is even violence in Northern Ireland following Old Firm games. Indeed, the rivalry between the two clubs is so great that only five players have ever moved between clubs. In 1980, around 9,000 fans fought an on-pitch battle in the aftermath of Celtic’s 1-0 victory in the Scottish Cup Final at Hampden. This remains the worst invasion onto a football pitch ever reported. The Old Firm rivalry fuels many assaults and many deaths on Old Firm Derby days; an activist group that monitors sectarian activity in Glasgow has reported that on Old Firm weekends, admissions to hospital emergency rooms increase nine fold over normal levels, and journalist Franklin Foer noted that in the period from 1996 to 2003, eight deaths in Glasgow were directly linked to Old Firm matches, and hundreds and thousands of assaults.

Lazio vs Roma

The Derby della Capitale (English: Derby of the capital) is the local football derby in Rome, Italy, between the two major teams of the city, Lazio and Roma. It is considered to be the fiercest derby in the country ahead of the other major local derbies, Derby della Madonnina (Milan derby) and Derby della Mole (Turin derby), and one of the greatest and hotly contested capital derbies in Europe. The derby has been historically marked by massive crowds, excitement, violence and – recently – racist banners in the crowd.

Some extreme incidents in particular have left their mark on the history of this fixture. In 1979, Lazio fan Vincenzo Paparelli was hit in the eye and killed by a flare fired by a Roma fan from the opposite end of the stadium, becoming the first fatality in Italian football due to violence. In 2004 an unprecedented event occurred when the Roma ultras forced the game to be suspended after spreading false rumors among the crowd that a child had been killed by the police prior to the beginning of the game. In the recent derby, in December 2009, the referee stopped play for some seven minutes, just 13 minutes into the first half, due to fireworks being thrown onto the pitch. The derby on March 21, 2004, was abandoned four minutes into the second half, with the score tied at 0–0, when a riot broke out in the stands and the president of the Italian Football League, Adriano Galliani, ordered referee Roberto Rosetti to suspend the match. After the match was postponed a prolonged battle among fans and between fans and police ensued, with stands being set on fire and people fleeing the stadium, eventually resulting in over 13 arrests and over 170 injured among the police alone.

Airplane disasters involving sports teams

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 5 May 2012 01:09:00 -0700

Marshall University Football Team

1970

The year 1970 was to prove a grim year for college football program travel. Southern Airways Flight 932 was a chartered commercial jet flight from Kinston, North Carolina, to Ceredo, West Virginia. At 7:35 pm on November 14, 1970, the aircraft crashed into a hill just short of the airport, killing all 75 people on board. The plane was carrying 37 members of the Marshall University Thundering Herd football squad, eight members of the coaching staff, 25 boosters, four flight crew members, and one employee of the charter company. The team was returning home after a 17–14 loss against the East Carolina Pirates. At the time, Marshall’s athletic teams rarely traveled by plane, with most away games within easy driving distance of the campus. The team

had originally planned to cancel the flight, but changed plans and chartered the Southern Airways DC-9.

On the return flight to West Virginia the flight crew were informed to descend to 5,000 feet. The controllers had advised the crew that there was “rain, fog, smoke and a ragged ceiling” making landing more difficult but not impossible. The airliner was on its final approach when it collided with the tops of trees on a hillside 5,543 feet (1,690 m) west of runway 12. As a result of the impact, the plane burst into flames and created a swath of charred ground 95 feet (29 m) wide and 279 feet (85 m) long. According to the official NTSB report, the accident was “unsurvivable”. The aircraft had “dipped to the right, almost inverted and had crashed into a hollow ‘nose-first’”. The fire was very intense and the remains of six individuals that were discovered on the plane were never identified.

The National Transportation Safety Board investigation concluded that the crash was either the result of the crew misreading the airplane instrumentation, or a faulty altimeter. Many team boosters and prominent citizens were on the plane. Seventy children lost at least one parent in the crash, with 18 of them left orphaned. The crash of Flight 932 almost led to the discontinuation of the university’s football program. However, students and Thundering Herd football fans convinced the university President to reconsider and the school began rebuilding the program. They brought together a group of players who were on the junior varsity during the 1970 season, other students and athletes from other sports; many of these players had never attempted to play football before, and the team played on.

On November 12, 1972, the Memorial Fountain was dedicated at the campus entrance to the Memorial Student Center. Every year, on the anniversary of the crash, the fountain is shut off at the exact time of the crash, and not activated again until the following spring.

Alianza Lima Peru Football Team

1987

The 1987 Alianza Lima air disaster took place on December 8, 1987, when a Peruvian Navy Fokker F27-400M, chartered by Peruvian football club Alianza Lima, plunged into the Pacific Ocean six miles short of its destination. On board the flight were a total of 44 players, managers, staff, cheerleaders and crewmembers, of which only the pilot survived the accident. The team was returning from a Peruvian league match when the aircrew thought they noticed a malfunctioning indicator on the control panel, which appeared to show the planes landing gear had not deployed. The pilot requested a flyby of the control tower so that spotters on the ground could confirm that the plane’s landing gear was down and locked. Upon receiving visual confirmation of safe configuration for landing, the plane went around for another attempt at a landing. The Fokker flew too low and plunged into the Pacific.

Following the crash, the Peruvian Navy shut itself off from the press, and did not release the results of its investigation, nor did it allow private investigations to take place. Allegations were made that the accident had been caused by the aircraft’s shoddy mechanical condition, and the Navy concealed the truth in order to save face. It was not until 2006 that the results of the official inquiry into the cause of the disaster came to light. The investigation cited the pilot’s lack of night flying experience, his misreading of the emergency procedures related to the landing gear issue, and the aircraft’s poor mechanical condition as contributing factors to the accident. The Peruvian Football Federation chose not to end the football season early, despite the loss of what amounted to the majority of Alianza’s team; the club played their last few matches with retired volunteers, players from its youth teams, and players loaned by a Chilean club. The accident was disastrous for Alianza, who lost their most promising squad in a decade.

US Amateur Boxing Team

1980

LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007 crashed near Warsaw, Poland, on March 14, 1980, due to mechanical failure as the crew aborted a landing and attempted to go-around. All 87 crew and passengers died. On board were many members of the 1980 US amateur boxing team, many of whom were contenders to qualify for the 1980 US Olympic Boxing Team (the US subsequently boycotted the 1980 Olympics in Moscow). The team was going to Poland for boxing matches against Polish and Russian amateur boxers. Flight 007 departed New York City at 21:18, and after nine hours of an uneventful flight, it was approaching Warsaw Airport at 11:13 local time. During their final approach, about one minute before the landing, the crew reported that the landing gear indicator light was not operating, and that they would go-around and allow the flight engineer to check if it was caused by a burnt-out fuse or light bulb, or if there was actually some problem with the gears deploying.

Nine seconds after the last voice transmission the aircraft suddenly entered a steep dive. At 11:14:35, after 26 seconds of uncontrolled descent, the aircraft clipped a tree with its right wing and impacted the ice-covered moat of a 19th-century military fortress. At the last moment the pilot, using nothing but the plane’s ailerons, managed to avoid hitting a correctional facility for teenagers. On impact, the aircraft disintegrated; a large part of the main hull submerged in the moat. The moat had to be drained to allow the air crash investigation team to recover parts of the disintegrated plane. The body of the pilot was found lying on the street about sixty meters from the crash site; other bodies were scattered between the plane parts. According to the Polish government’s Special Disaster Commission, the crash was caused by defects in materials, faults in the manufacturing process of the jet engine’s shaft, and weaknesses in the design of its turbine.

Not on board the plane were other members of the US boxing team, including Johnny “Bump City” Bumphus who made the US Olympic team at 139 pounds. Bumphus would later go on to a successful professional boxing career and earn the title of WBA Light Welterweight Champion.

University of Evansville Basketball Team

1977

On December 13,1977, a chartered DC-3 carrying the entire University of Evansville basketball team crashed in a field near the Evansville Regional Airport. Every member of the team and coaching staff on the plane was killed. One player was not able to attend the game and thus was not on the plane; however, soon afterward, he was killed in an automobile accident. The team was on its way to Nashville, Tennessee, for a game against Middle Tennessee University when it crashed in rain and fog about 90 seconds after take off from the Evansville Airport. Twenty-nine people died in the crash including fourteen members of the basketball team and its coach. Three people did survive the crash but died shortly thereafter. The NTSB determined the cause of the crash was improper weight balance and the failure of the crew to remove external safety locks.

Cal Poly Football Team

1960

The Cal Poly football team plane crash occurred on October 29, 1960, when a twin-engine C-46 prop liner, carrying the California Polytechnic State University football team, crashed on takeoff at the Toledo Express Airport in Toledo, Ohio. The World War II vintage aircraft broke in two and caught fire on impact. Twenty-two of the forty-eight people on board were killed, including sixteen players. The follow up investigation concluded that the aircraft had been overloaded by 2,000 lbs above its maximum certificated gross takeoff weight and that there was a partial power loss in the left engine prior to the crash. Prior to takeoff the weather at the airport steadily deteriorated until by the time of the accident the visibility was zero. Because of this crash, the FAA published a notice prohibiting takeoff for commercial aircraft when the visibility is below 1/4 mile, or the runway visual range is below 2000 ft.

The pilot who made the decision to take off was flying on a license that had been revoked, but was allowed to fly pending an appeal. At the time of the crash, Bowling Green State had been the easternmost opposing school that the Cal Poly football team had ever traveled to. The university canceled the final three games of the 1960 season. Cal Poly alumnus and NFL Hall of Fame coach John Madden’s fear of flying is commonly attributed to the crash, although he has said it instead stems from claustrophobia. Madden, who played football for Cal Poly from 1957–58, and was coaching at the nearby Allan Hancock Junior College at the time of the crash, knew many passengers aboard the plane. As a result of the crash, Cal Poly did not play any road games outside California until 1969.

Wichita State Football Team

1970

On Friday October 2, 1970, the Wichita State University football team was aboard a Martin 4-0-4 aircraft when it crashed into a mountain eight miles west of Silver Plume, Colorado. The airplane carried 36 passengers and a crew of four; 29 were killed at the scene and two later died of their injuries. It was one of two planes carrying the Wichita State University football team to Logan, Utah, for a game against Utah State University. The two aircraft were dubbed “Gold” and “Black”, after the team colors. “Gold”, the plane that would crash, carried the starting players, coaches and boosters, while “Black” transported the backup players and other support personnel. The pilot flying “Gold” had not been rated to flay a Martin 4-0-4. In addition, he planned to take a scenic route, which would depart the normal flight path going over the Rocky Mountains. The crew flying the other team aircraft, “Black”, would adhere to the original flight plan and take a more northerly route towards Wyoming after departing Denver, using a designated airway. This planned route allowed more time to gain altitude for the climb over the Rocky Mountains.

While the aircraft were being refueled and serviced in Denver, the pilot of the Gold Plane purchased a map to use to point out landmarks on the scenic route he planned for the final leg of the journey. After take-off in clear weather, the two planes took divergent paths away from Denver. Having departed the normal flight path, the overloaded Gold plane entered the mountains and became trapped in a box canyon and was unable to escape. At 1:14 p.m. the “Gold” aircraft struck trees on Mount Trelease, 1,600 feet below the summit, and crashed. The NTSB report stated a belief that many on board survived the initial impact, and a few survivors escaped the fuselage before it burst into flames, killing any others who had survived the crash.

The NTSB found the primary cause of the crash was “The intentional operation of the aircraft over a mountain valley route at an altitude from which the aircraft could neither climb over the obstructing terrain ahead, nor execute a successful course reversal. The game was canceled, and the Utah State football team held a memorial service at the stadium where the game was to be played and placed a wreath on the 50-yard line. The remaining Wichita team, with the NCAA allowing freshman players to fill out the squad, decided to continue the 1970 season. Wichita State ended varsity football after the 1986 season. Wichita State University built a memorial for those who had died from the crash called Memorial ’70. Every year on October 2, at 9 am, a wreath is placed at this memorial.

Torino A.C. Football Team

1949

The Superga air disaster took place on Wednesday, 4 May, 1949, when a plane carrying almost the entire Torino A.C. football squad, popularly known as Il Grande Torino, crashed into the hill of Superga, near Turin, killing all 31 aboard, including 18 players, club officials, journalists accompanying the team and the plane’s crew. The Italian Airlines Fiat G212CP airplane carrying the team flew into a thunderstorm on the approach to Turin and encountered conditions of low cloud and poor visibility. They were forced to descend to be able to fly visually. While descending for Turin, the aircraft crashed against the base of the rear wall of the Basilica complex at the top of the hill of Superga. Italian authorities cited low cloud, poor radio aids and an error in navigation as factors contributing to the accident.

The emotional impact the crash made on Italian sports fans was profound, as it claimed the lives of the players of a legendary team which had won the last Serie A title before the league play was interrupted in 1944 by World War II and had then returned after the conflict to win four consecutive titles (1946–1949). At the time of the crash, Torino A.C. was leading Serie A with four games left to play in the season. The club carried on by fielding its youth team (Primavera) and in a sign of respect their opponents in each of these matches (Genoa, Palermo, Sampdoria, and Fiorentina) also fielded their youth sides. The disaster seriously weakened the Italian national team, which had included up to 10 Torino players. Torino itself would not claim another title until 1976. Of the entire squad only one player remained: Sauro Tomà missed the trip to Portugal due to injury.

Manchester United Football Team

1958

On 6 February, 1958, British European Airways Flight 609 crashed on its third attempt to take off from a slush-covered runway at Munich-Riem Airport in Munich, West Germany. On board the plane was the Manchester United football team, nicknamed the “Busby Babes”, along with a number of supporters and journalists. 23 of the 44 people on board the aircraft died in the crash. The team was returning from a European Cup match in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, against Red Star Belgrade, but had to make a stop in Munich for refueling, as a non-stop trip from Belgrade to Manchester was out of the aircraft’s range. After refueling, the pilots attempted to take off twice, but had to abandon both attempts due to problems with the port engine. Fearing that they would get too far behind schedule, the Captain rejected an overnight stay in Munich in favor of a third take-off attempt.

By the time of the third attempt, it had begun to snow, causing a layer of slush to build up at the end of the runway. When the aircraft hit the slush, it lost velocity, making take-off impossible. It ploughed through a fence past the end of the runway, before the port wing hit a nearby house and was torn off. Fearing that the aircraft might explode, the Captain tried to get the survivors as far away as possible. Despite the risk of explosion, goalkeeper Harry Gregg remained behind to pull survivors from the wreckage. An investigation by the West German airport authorities originally blamed the Captain for the crash, claiming that he had failed to de-ice the wings of the aircraft, despite statements to the contrary from eyewitnesses. It was later established that the crash had, in fact, been caused by the build-up of slush on the runway, which had resulted in the aircraft being unable to achieve take-off velocity.

United States Figure Skating Team

1961

On February 15, 1961, Sabena Flight 548, a Boeing 707 bound from New York to Brussels Belgium, crashed during the approach for landing. All 72 on board were killed, as well as one person on the ground. Among the dead was the entire United States Figure Skating team, who were en route to the 1961 World Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia. There was no indication of trouble on board the plane until it approached the Brussels airport. The pilot had to circle the airport while waiting for a small plane to clear the runway. Then, according to eyewitnesses, the plane began to climb and bank erratically and crashed suddenly in a field near the hamlet of Berg. The wreckage burst into flames. All aboard were killed instantly. A farmer working in the fields was killed by a piece of aluminum shrapnel, and another farmer had his leg amputated by flying debris from the plane.

The exact cause of the crash was never determined beyond reasonable doubt, but investigators suspected that the aircraft might have been brought down by a failure of the stabilizer adjusting mechanism. All 18 athletes of the 1961 U.S. figure skating team and 16 family members, coaches and officials died in the crash. The loss of the U.S. team was considered so catastrophic for the sport that the 1961 World Figure Skating Championships were cancelled. American President, John F. Kennedy, issued a statement of condolence from the White House. He was particularly shocked by the disaster. One of the skaters killed in the crash, Dudley Richards, was a personal friend of President Kennedy and his brother Ted Kennedy, from summers spent at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. Because the casualties included many of the top American coaches as well as the athletes, the crash was a devastating blow to the U.S. Figure Skating program, which had enjoyed a position of dominance in the sport in the 1950s.

Zambian National Football Team

1993

The Zambian national football team was flying on a military plane on its way to Senegal for a 1994 World Cup qualification match, when the plane crashed in the late evening of April 27, 1993. All 30 passengers and crew, including 18 players, as well as the national team coach and support staff, were lost in the accident. Two other members of the national team, who were playing in other countries and who had made other flight arrangements to attend the game, were not aboard and survived.
The flight from Zambia to Senegal required three refueling stops and at the first stop, in the Congo, engine problems were noted. Despite this, the flight continued and a few minutes after taking off from a second stop in Libreville, Gabon, one of the engines caught fire and failed. The pilot, who was tired from already having flown back from Mauritius earlier that day, then shut down the wrong engine, causing the plane to lose all power during the climb out of Libreville Airport. The plane fell from the sky and crashed into the water 500m offshore.

A new team was quickly assembled and faced up to the difficult task of having to complete Zambia’s World Cup qualifiers and then prepare for the upcoming African Nations Cup, which was only months away. The resurrected team defied the odds and reached the final against Nigeria, only to lose. In spite of the loss, the Zambian side returned home as national heroes. After the crash, Zambia fell into seven days of official mourning. The 18 players, coaches and crew members were buried there with official honors as tens of thousands of fans poured into the capital’s streets and grieved for what many said was one of Africa’s greatest teams. An official report into the plane crash blamed a mechanical fault in the left engine and the pilot inadvertently shutting off fuel to the functioning right engine by mistake because of a “poor indicator light bulb”.

Uruguayan Old Christians Club Rugby Team

1972

Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, also known as the Miracle in the Andes, was a chartered flight carrying 45 people, including a rugby team and their friends, family and associates that crashed in the Andes on October 13, 1972. The last of the 16 survivors were rescued on December 23, 1972. The story of the Andes Survivors is well known; popularized by the book “Alive” and the 1993 film of the same name. On Friday the 13th of October, 1972, a Uruguayan Air Force twin turboprop Fairchild FH-227D was flying over the Andes carrying members of the Old Christians Club rugby union team from Montevideo, Uruguay, to play a match in Santiago, Chile.

Due to bad weather and limitations of the airplane, the flight could not fly over the Andes Mountains and instead had to proceed through one of the “passes” through the mountains, to reach Chile. The pilots misjudged their position and, thinking they were at the pass, flew instead into a mountain, leading to a controlled flight into terrain. But the plane did not smash head long into the mountain. In a last ditch effort to gain altitude and clear the top of the mountain, the pilots clipped the peak at 4,200 meters (13,800 ft), neatly severing the right wing, which was thrown back with such force that it cut off the tail, leaving a gaping hole in the rear of the fuselage. The plane then clipped a second peak, which severed the left wing and left the plane as just a fuselage flying through the air. The fuselage hit the ground and slid down a steep mountain slope before finally coming to rest in a snow bank.

Of the 45 people on the plane, 12 died in the crash or shortly thereafter; another five had died by the next morning, and one more succumbed to injuries on the eighth day. The remaining 27 faced severe difficulties in surviving high in the freezing mountains. The survivors had little food and no source of heat in the harsh conditions, at over 3,600 meters (11,800 ft) altitude. Faced with starvation and radio news reports that the search for them had been abandoned, the survivors fed on the dead passengers who had been preserved in the snow. Rescuers did not learn of the survivors until 72 days after the crash, when passengers Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa, after a 12-day trek across the Andes, found a Chilean huaso, who gave them food and then alerted authorities about the existence of the other survivors. Only sixteen would survive. Their survival in the high mountains of the Andes and final rescue just before Christmas 1972 would become known as The Miracle in the Andes.

Worst sports moments

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 4 May 2012 04:07:00 -0700

Dave Dravecky

To survive cancer is a miraculous event. To return to your job on national television after surviving cancer is something else entirely. Dave Dravecky was an outstanding pitcher for the San Francisco Giants when doctors discovered a tumor on his arm. He had it removed and, after recovery time, he appeared to be healthy again. After some rehab he seemed ready to return to the mound, and did so on August 10, 1989. He pitched 8 solid innings and got the win in what appeared to be the feel good story for every baseball fan. In his second start a few days later, Dravecky went five innings until, in the sixth, his humerus bone snapped in half while throwing a

pitch and leaving him in agonizing pain rolling on the ground in anguish. His career was ended and two years later his arm was amputated. The story was one that many were following, a cancer patient beating the odds, and no one had expected such a dramatic and painful end to a great career.

Steve Howe

Steve Howe was a relief pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees. During his seven year career he was suspended seven times for substance abuse by Major League Baseball. He spent years in rehab attempting to control both his cocaine addiction and alcoholism. In 1992, he was offered a new contract with the Yankees and seemed to be under control, until his continuing use of cocaine got him banned for life by the MLB. Fans seemed happy with this outcome, until he successfully appealed the ban and in 1994 played in 40 games, recording a 1.80 ERA. After a few struggling seasons he was released and retired from baseball in 1997. His 1989 autobiography stated that he had overcome his problems with a commitment to evangelical Christianity. In 2006 he was killed in a car accident and the autopsy revealed a large amount of methamphetamine in his body. Howe became the standard story for athletes getting preferential treatment by the judicial system.

Ben Johnson

When thinking of world class sprinters today, most people don’t think about Canada. However, in the 1980s one of the biggest names in running was Ben Johnson. In 1987 he set the world record for the 100m and became one of the most endorsed and beloved athletes in Canada. At the ’88 Olympics Johnson lowered his own world record to 9.79 seconds, took the gold medal and became an international hero. He only held the medal for three days before his urine test came back positive for steroids. After an investigation he was stripped of all records and his gold medal. Johnson attempted a comeback in 1991 but once again tested positive for steroids.

Clint Malarchuk

In 1989, Clint Malarchuk was playing goalie for the Buffalo Sabers in a game against the St. Louis Blues. Two players skated into each other, crashed into the net and Malarchuk. Steve Tuttle’s skate caught Malarchuk’s throat and slit his jugular vein. Pools of blood collected on the ice while Malarchuk skated off to the locker room with the assistance of trainers and referees. He said later that he was thinking that he was going to die, but wanted to get off the ice because his mom was watching the game on TV and he didn’t want her to see him die. He asked for a priest and someone to call his mom and say that he loved her. A quick thinking trainer, Jim Pizzutelli reached into Malarchuk’s neck and pinched the vein shut. After doctors arrived, it took them 90 minutes and 300 stitches to repair his neck. There were reports of fans fainting at the sight of the injury, two of them suffering heart attacks. At least three players vomited on the ice after witnessing the incident.

Pete Rose

Anyone unfamiliar with the history of baseball would assume that the all-time leader in hits would be an automatic hall of fame candidate. Pete Rose has a career .303 batting average and over 4,200 hits. He is a three time World Series champion and a 17 time all-star. And yet, he will never be elected to the hall of fame. In 1989, it was revealed to the world that Rose had bet on baseball. He denied it publicly for years, but the evidence piled up. The Dowd Report about the scandal said that Rose never bet against the team he was managing, the Cincinnati Reds, but the damage had been done. Rose finally admitted publicly that he had bet on baseball in his 2004 book, My Prison Without Bars.

Mark McGwire

In 1998, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa put on one of the best shows in the history of baseball. They battled all season, piling on the homeruns in a chase that would leave them in the record books. They combined for 136 homeruns and broke the all-time record for homeruns in a season. The two had “saved” baseball, drawing in huge numbers of fans who had been alienated by the game. And then in 2005, Jose Canseco released a book full of accusations about steroids; including saying he had personally injected McGwire with the substances. McGwire denied the accusations publicly, and finally had his chance to set the record straight in front of Congress. Instead he pleaded the Fifth. This disgusting scandal is one of the worst in sports history and ongoing still today.

Greg Louganis

As an Olympic diver, Greg Louganis hit his head on the board during a dive and fell into the water. He got out of the pool, was stitched up by trainers and went back onto the board to win his gold medal. For years people thought of it as a great comeback and a touching story for everyone in sports. In 1995, 7 years after the incident, Louganis announced publicly that he had AIDS and had known about it since before the 1988 Olympics. The media, fans and fellow divers were disgusted by the idea that Louganis would knowingly put all of them at risk, and then not tell anyone that he had tested positive for AIDS, even after his blood had gotten into the pool. He did not even think to tell the trainer who treated him on site. Instead, Louganis was too selfish to tell the truth and put everyone who entered that pool after him at risk.

The Black Sox

The Chicago White Sox, in 1919, were the American League Champions and were headed to the World Series to face the Cincinnati Reds. The entire team had a resentment of the owner, who was known for benching players close to achieving bonuses and not paying players what they deserve. First baseman, Arnold Gandil, came up with a scheme to make the players the money they wanted. With help from a few close friends and gamblers, he convinced several players to purposely lose the series. Eight players were involved in the fix, and during game eight of the nine game series, the Reds won it all. During 1920 a Chicago Grand Jury investigated the case. After evidence went missing the case was dropped, but Major League Baseball decided to suspend all eight players for life. The scandal shook the nation and momentarily destroyed the integrity of the game. One legend says that a small boy, talking to his idol Joe Jackson outside the courthouse, innocently spoke the thoughts of the nation, “Say it ain’t so, Joe.”

Heysel Stadium

On May 29, 1985, Heysel Stadium in Belgium was set to host the European Cup Final, featuring Liverpool vs. Juventus. 60,000 fans arrived at the stadium, crowding in, many managing to sneak by without tickets. The stadium had a large wire fence to separate the fans of the two teams. An hour before kick-off the fans began throwing stones and trash over the fence at the opposing fans. A group of Liverpool supporters scaled the fence in an effort to intimidate the Juventus fans. The fans began to push back against the crowd in an attempt to escape from the Liverpool fans. Unfortunately the stadium was in bad shape and a perimeter wall collapsed under the pressure of fleeing fans. 39 people were killed and 600 injured. Some semblance of order was established and the game was played despite the incident. Juventus won the game 1-0. Afterwards, the Liverpool fans were blamed and English club teams were banned from international competition for five years.

Zinedine Zidane

What will you remember from the 2006 World Cup? How about from the career ofZinedine Zidane? If you’re not a particularly devout fan of soccer, it is just one incident. In the 110th minute of play of the final game of the World Cup, France and Italy were tied 1-1. When Italian player Marco Materazzi made choice comments about Zidane’s sister, Zidane turned around and rammed his head into Materazzi’s chest. He received a red card and left the field of play, while Italy went on to win the game in penalties. Zidane retired from soccer, leaving himself with a disgraced legacy and his country without the World Cup title.

Dale Earnhardt Sr.

The most controversial NASCAR driver of all time, Dale Earnhardt, was a 7 time champion and “The Intimidator”. He would fight for every race and is remembered as one of the greatest ever. In 2001, he went into the final turn of the Daytona 500 in 3rd place. He fended off Sterling Marlin momentarily, until his car was tapped and careened head first into the outside wall at 150 mph. Earnhardt’s neck snapped when his entire body was jolted and the blow to his head on the steering wheel killed him on impact. It was a sad day and no one even considered celebrating Michael Waltrip’s long awaited victory. No fan will ever forget Kenny Schrader leaping out of his car, looking in the window, and immediately signaling for the paramedics.

Hillsborough

During a 1989 FA Cup semi-final match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest ninety-six people were killed during a human crush. The tragedy began initially because of a car accident on the main road leading to the stadium. Thousands of fans were running late for the match because of the traffic. When they arrived a bottle-neck effect occurred because people were showing up quicker then the turnstiles would allow them to enter the stadium. Cops decided to open an exit in order to get the fans in quicker, but this caused overcrowding in one area of the stadium. Fans in the front of the stands were pushed against the fence separating them from the field. The referees stopped the game only 6 minutes in after their attention was called to fans climbing the fences to avoid being crushed. One gate was forced open and most of the fence eventually collapsed. The 700+ injured fans overwhelmed the police and medical personal. Forty-four ambulances arrived on site, but none were able to enter the stadium. Most of the blame was eventually placed on poor police control and a terrible stadium design.

Old Christians Rugby Team

In 1972, the Stella Maris College Rugby team left Uruguay for a match in Chile. Their plane was grounded for one day due to weather, and then ventured out to fly over the Andes. The plane crashed and 33 people survived. 5 died shortly after, and 8 more died after an avalanche. With meager supplies the survivors decided together that their only option for food was to eat the flesh of their fallen comrades. Two months after the crash three of the survivors set out to try and find rescue. Several days into their hike down to a valley, they followed a river down to the edge of the snow and finally found some Chilean huesos who helped guide them to safety. They got help and a helicopter crew was sent in to rescue the survivors. 16 people survived the ordeal.

Munich Massacre

In 1972, West Germany had an opportunity to host the Olympic Games. Israel decided to compete, despite some uneasiness since they were only 27 years removed from the atrocities of the Holocaust. Two weeks into the games terrorists from the organization Black September, which has connections to Yasser Arafat, broke into the apartments of the Israelis and took some of the athletes hostage. After contact with police, their demands were not met and they threw a body out the window. The Germans attempted to negotiate with the terrorists, even offering an “unlimited sum of money”, but the Palestinians would not cooperate. The German police did not have adequate training for this situation and set up an unsuccessful rescue attempt. The terrorists demanded a jet to Egypt, which was promised, as a bluff. They brought the hostages and terrorists into the airport via helicopter, where gunfire began. The terrorists, in fear of their plot failing, began shooting the hostages. In the end, eleven Israeli athletes and coaches had been killed, as well as one German police officer, and five of the eight terrorists. Millions will remember the coverage broadcast by Jim McKay of ABC News reported, “Our worst fears have been realized tonight. They’ve now said that there were eleven hostages. Two were killed in their rooms’ yesterday morning; nine were killed at the airport tonight. They’re all gone.”

Joe Theismann

In 1985, after two Super Bowl appearances and one win, an MVP award, and having set most records for the quarterback position within the Washington Redskin’s organization, Joe Theismann was playing a Monday night game against their division rival, New York Giants. On an attempted flea flicker play, the Giants defense blitzed and Lawrence Taylor sacked Theismann for a loss of yards. Taylor immediately jumped to his feet and signaled for the Redskins to send out medical personal. Theismann’s leg was broken midway between the knee and ankle, breaking both the fibula and tibia. A reverse-angle replay showed the extent of the damage, as viewers saw Theismann’s lower shin lying flat on the ground, and the upper half sticking up at a 45 degree angle.

World's worst boxing moments

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 2 May 2012 23:43:00 -0700

Death of Duk Koo Kim

A superstar in South Korea, Kim had risen all the way to the number one lightweight contender and earned a world title shot against the famed Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, on November 13, 1982. The bout was extremely brutal, especially for Kim, who had begun to wear down in the latter rounds after absorbing tremendous punishment from the champion. In the early part of the 14th round, Mancini hit Kim with a crushing right hand that caused him to fly toward the ropes and hit his head on the canvas.

Kim managed to rise but the fight was stopped by the referee. Minutes later Duk Koo Kim collapsed into a coma and was carried out of the ring and taken directly to the hospital.

Tragically, the Korean star died 4 days later from severe brain trauma. Out of the hundreds of recorded ring fatalities, Kim’s death was one of the saddest. Kim’s opponent, Ray Mancini, would never again be the same caliber fighter, and it was widely reported that he blamed himself for Kim’s death. Kim’s mother committed suicide three months after her son’s death by drinking a bottle of pesticide. The bout’s referee, Richard Green, consumed by guilt, also committed suicide shortly after the fight.

James Butler

Butler was a very promising young fighter from New York City, known by the nickname “Harlem Hammer”. In November 2001, James Butler fought Richard “The Alien” Grant. The bout was a charity event to benefit survivors of the September 11 attacks. After losing by unanimous decision Butler made his way to the middle of the ring to purportedly congratulate Grant. Grant reacted by stretching his hand out in a motion to embrace. Instead, Butler (who had already removed his gloves) threw a vicious haymaker to Grant’s face. Richard Grant suffered numerous facial injuries including a broken jaw, lacerated tongue and several stitches. Butler, in turn, was arrested and convicted of assault, and served prison time for the attack.

Unfortunately, the tale does not end there. James Butler continued his career after this incident, but could never duplicate his earlier success. In October of 2004, Butler was arrested and charged with murdering Sam Kellerman, brother of HBO Boxing analyst Max Kellerman, with (ironically) a hammer, and setting his body on fire after a dispute. Butler pled guilty in 2006, and was sentenced to 29 years in prison.

Riot at Madison Square Garden

Polish born Andrew Golota entered the ring on July 11, 1996, with an exceptional 27-0 record and on the cusp of Superstardom. All he had to do was get past the 38-1 former Undisputed Heavyweight champ, Riddick Bowe. Golota responded with a brilliant performance. The Polish sensation clobbered the ex-champ round after round, almost into submission. He was well ahead on points and seemingly close to scoring a knockout.

In the 7th round, the fight began to take a very strange turn. Golota (for reasons known only to himself) commenced to blatantly and repeatedly punch Bowe below the belt line. Golota was warned several times and even received point deductions, but his behavior continued. After several more flagrant low blows the referee was forced to disqualify him. Riddick Bowe’s corner responded by rushing the ring and viciously attacking Golota and his team. This triggered a full scale, racially charged riot, which spilled into the stands. MSG security was not equipped to handle a massive brawl and had to wait for New York riot police to arrive. Reinforcements finally arrived but not before dozens of fans, boxing personnel and police were injured in this disgraceful and bizarre incident.

Only in America

Not just anyone can own a professional football franchise. Not just anyone can own a baseball franchise. Anyone can promote a fight, even a convicted killer and numbers operator from Cleveland. In 1974, Don King very shrewdly promoted his first professional fight. It turned out to be the famed Ali vs Foreman “Rumble in the Jungle” in Zaire. This mega-event instantly transformed King into a major player in boxing for the next 30 years.

But, unfortunately the major player likes to play dirty; King’s many exploits are infamous. He has perpetrated fraud after fraud on any and all promising young fighters to join his stable. King has been implicated in: murder, bribery, theft, bookmaking, breaches of contract, and mafia assisted racketeering. Larry Holmes once said, “Don King wears his hair like that so he can hide his horns”.

Sonny Liston and the Mob

By all accounts Liston had a woeful childhood. Extremely poor and physically abused, Liston left home at an early age and participated in numerous violent crimes. While incarcerated, his boxing skills were discovered and, soon after his release, he began destroying a string of opponents on his way to the Heavyweight title. Liston’s incredible prowess caught the attention of several mafia associates including, Frankie Carbo and “Blinky” Palermo.

By the time Sonny Liston fought a young Cassius Clay on May 25, 1965, many in the press already suspected that Liston was controlled by the mob. He nevertheless participated in one of the most obvious fixes in sports history. In the very first round, Liston took a dive and allowed himself to be counted out after Clay threw his famous “Phantom Punch”. Slow motion review shows a quick combination that seemingly misses, or at best only grazes, Liston. Coincidentally, their first fight also ended controversially when Liston refused to come out of his corner for the 7th round, claiming a shoulder injury. Sonny Liston would die 5 years later, under very suspicious circumstances.

Corrupt Richard Steele

A very rare event occurred on March 17, 1990. On this night two undefeated champions, who were both in the same weight class and who were both in their prime, fought each other. Julio Cesar Chavez who was 68-0 (and promoted by Don King) met undefeated Olympic gold medalist, and welterweight champ, Meldrick Taylor. Chavez was the favorite but it was Taylor who dominated the fight from the opening bell.

In late going Taylor’s trademark speed was beginning to wane but he still held a commanding lead on all scorecards going into the final round. Moments before the end of the match, Chavez scored a knockdown but Taylor rose to his feet quickly. Had the fight continued, Taylor would have still won by unanimous decision, but it was not meant to be. The bout referee, Richard Steele, stopped the fight with a mere 2 seconds left, and awarded the victory to Chavez. There were immediate protests from Taylor’s camp, but the Nevada State Athletic Commission (whose integrity has been routinely called into question) upheld the decision. Taylor’s career and health were subsequently ruined and Steele, who notoriously favored Don King fighters, forever tarnished the sport.

International Boxing Federation Scandal

The IBF, among other entities, is a major sanctioning body which is based in New Jersey. The way boxing works is: each sanctioning body has a champion. Champions are only allowed to fight boxers ranked in the top 15. Ranking committees determine who gets ranked. Ranking committee chairmen have the final say and are notoriously corruptible.

In November 1999, IBF president Bob Lee Sr. was indicted and convicted on numerous racketeering charges. Lee was conspiring with his rankings chairman, C. Douglass Beavers, to rig the rankings system to favor boxers whose promoters and handlers paid them cash bribes. The duo routinely took hundreds of thousands of dollars from the likes of Don King and Cedric Kushner, in return for artificially inflating the rankings of their fighters. Promoters who didn’t pay didn’t see title fights. The result was: a completely corrupt system which was not in any way based on merit. Another black eye for boxing.

Boxing’s not so Golden Age

James D. Norris was a very wealthy and extremely powerful man in the mid 20th century. He owned many companies and was heavily involved in the sports world, including owning a National Hockey League franchise, a major stake in Madison Square Garden and champion racehorses. Jim Norris was also a very unsavory individual and was widely known to associate with criminals. As president of the International Boxing Club, Norris had a virtual monopoly on championship fights, due to a lucrative contract the IBC had to broadcast fights on national television.

Jim Norris was personally responsible for fixing numerous bouts, including: Harry Thomas vs Max Schmeling in 1937, and Jake Lamotta vs Billy Fox in 1946. His corruption knew no limits. Besides match fixing he was also unofficially managing many boxers (usually against their will) and persuading them to hire his associates as advisers. Norris’ actions perpetuated a chain of farce’s which were passed off as competitive bouts to an unsuspecting public, and helped erode boxing’s integrity.

Seoul, Korea – 1988 Olympics

Many people remember a young Roy Jones Jr. being robbed of a gold medal by corrupt Olympic judges, but few remember an even uglier incident that preceded it. New Zealander Keith Walker was officiating a bantamweight bout between Byun Jong Il of South Korea and Alexander Hristov of Bulgaria. The fight was an ugly foul-filled affair and Walker had to repeatedly penalize Jong for head butting.

At the conclusion of the fight, Hristov was announced the winner but this only incensed Jong’s countrymen. Numerous South Korean boxing officials and coaches stormed the ring and viciously attacked referee Keith Walker with punches, kicks, bottles and even chairs. The terrified Walker barely escaped serious injury and headed directly to the airport and took the first plane back to New Zealand. Shamed and embarrassed, the Korean Boxing Federation president and the president of the Korean Olympic Committee both resigned after this deplorable incident.

The actions of Panama Lewis

At one time Carlos “Panama” Lewis was a world class trainer, his character, on the other hand, was anything but world class. Despite already being under a cloud of suspicion for allegedly giving his boxers water spiked with illegal stimulants and for gambling on fights that he was involved in; Panama Lewis concocted a wicked plan for his fighter, Luis Resto. Resto was nothing more than a journeyman fighter, or simply a professional opponent when he took on undefeated rising star Billy Collins Jr, on June 16, 1983

Knowing Resto was overmatched, Panama and another trainer removed padding from Resto’s gloves and poured an illegal hardening agent on his hand wraps. Luis Resto proceeded to brutalize his unsuspecting opponent for 10 rounds. After being declared the winner, Resto approached Collins’ corner. Collins’ father, who at that point was suspicious of Resto’s new found power, touched Resto’s hand and immediately notified ringside officials. The gloves and hand wraps in question were confiscated by the state Athletic Commission and both were brought up on charges. Panama Lewis and Luis Resto both had their licenses permanently revoked and were given prison sentences. Sadly, Billy Collins Jr. would never fight again, his once promising career shattered by the injuries he received. Collins Jr. was dead less than one year later, a suspected suicide.

Yogi Berra Quotes

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 1 May 2012 01:26:00 -0700

Lawrence Peter Berra played Major League Baseball for 19 years for the New York Yankees. He played on 10 World Series Championship teams, is a MLB Hall of Famer and has some awe-inspiring stats. His name is consistently brought up as one of the best catchers in baseball history, and he was voted to the Team of the Century in 1999.

Amazing accomplishments aside, they probably aren’t how you know Lawrence. You know him as Yogi, a nickname given to him by a friend who likened his cross-legged sitting to a yogi. Yogi is famous for his fractured English, malapropisms and sometimes nonsensical quotes. He’s closing in on 86, and there seems to be no end to his fan’s love for him.

In honor of the beginning of the US baseball season, here are 25 Yogi Berra quotes that will make you shake your head and smile. Naturally, add your favorites in the comments, there are many more out there!

Quotes 1-5

1. “It’s like deja vu all over again.”

2. “We made too many wrong mistakes.”

3. “You can observe a lot just by watching.”

4. “A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.”

5. “He hits from both sides of the plate. He’s amphibious.”

Quotes 6-10

6. “If the world was perfect, it wouldn’t be.”

7. “If you don’t know where you’re going, you might end up some place else.”

8. Responding to a question about remarks attributed to him that he did not think were his: “I really didn’t say everything I said.”

9. “The future ain’t what it use to be.”

10. “I think Little League is wonderful. It keeps the kids out of the house.”

Quotes 11-15

11. On why he no longer went to Ruggeri’s, a St. Louis restaurant: “Nobody goes there anymore because it’s too crowded.”

12. “I always thought that record would stand until it was broken.”

13. “We have deep depth.”

14. “All pitchers are liars or crybabies.”

15. When giving directions to Joe Garagiola to his New Jersey home, which is accessible by two routes: “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

Quotes 16-20

16. “Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t come to yours.”

17. “Never answer anonymous letters.”

18. On being the guest of honor at an awards banquet: “Thank you for making this day necessary.”

19. “The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase.”

20. “Half the lies they tell about me aren’t true.”

Quotes 21-25

21. As a general comment on baseball: “90% of the game is half mental.”

22. “I don’t know (if they were men or women running naked across the field). They had bags over their heads.”

23. “It gets late early out there.”

24. “Yogi, you are from St. Louis, we live in New Jersey, and you played ball in New York. If you go before I do, where would you like me to have you buried?” -Carmen Berra, Yogi’s wife. “Surprise me.” – Yogi

25. “It ain’t over till it’s over.”

Outdoor Gym Class

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 02:02:00 -0700

Gym class can be both a beautiful and dreadful thing: beautiful in its celebration of health, competition and physical fitness, dreadful in its Darwinian grading system, embarrassing requirements (come on, even real gym locker rooms are outfitted with private shower stalls), and failure to inform you correctly. Yes, gym class is prone to frequent misinformation, such as the fact it’s okay for a real teacher to be hungover on the job, or that a majority of the sports, games and activities that are played in gym class don’t really have a place outside of grade school. At least in any conventional sense.

For instance, there is no jump rope league, and the closest thing to lacrosse having a place in our day-today lives is using a pooper scooper to pick up some dog crap, followed by a wrist-guided flick into a trash bag. Sure there are informal organizations and such but there are only a handful of major sports that are given any serious or passionate consideration, and they are so for being national past times. Here we’ll take a look at some past times that never end up being carried into the present.

Handball

AKA “gatorball,” “Z-Ball,” etc. This game went by many names, depending on your gym teacher, which shows the games lack of universality. Handball, was essentially soccer, but with the ability to kick the the ball up into your own hands, or someone else’s, and pass the ball around as if

basketball rules applied. It was fun at the time, but dangerous indoors, what with the ability to kick the ball directly into the girl with glasses in the bleachers. It probably didn’t catch on in any grander sense because the game is so unoriginal, kind of a hodge-podge of already-established sports (including dodgeball).

Obstacle Course

The real only other place an obstacle course applies is military boot camp (which gym class felt the need to prepare timid middle schoolers for). There was the infamous rope climb, which always beckoned the temptation of swinging from the rope like Tarzan before the gym teacher turned purple with anger. There was that box where you would stretch to see how far you could push the knob, a flexibility test. There was the pull up bar that separated the scrawny boys from the puberty-ready men. And there was the step box. Come to think of it, there was a lot of weird little doodads that seemed to have no other purpose but to “size you up for the pick’n's.” These don’t exist anywhere else (except for the pull-up bar), but they might prove more showing if they did, say for people old enough to make health a priority. Otherwise, it was the worst week of gym class, just after the scoliosis screenings.

Water Polo

Think regular polo, except with a volleyball and an open palm instead of a golf club, and with a drowned horse and you have a gratuitous definition of Water Polo. A better definition would be swimming meets handball, handball, again, being soccer meets hands. This game is very rigorous, and requires a level of fitness and lung capacity that can only exist in high school. As such, the game has its place mostly in extra-curriculars (apparently this was where the line was drawn at which grading on ability become cruel).

Badminton

While it’s not fair to say this game doesn’t exist outside of gym class, its only other apparent refuge is in a yuppie’s backyard lawn, or at a company barbecue. It is a whole lot of fun to play, largely in how it defies gravity and makes a plummeting object a little less threatening. Definitely more fun to play than watch (likely why it’s never televised).

Crab Soccer

Just like it sounds, this game required you to take an obscene, Exorcist-inspired position and carry on an otherwise regular game of soccer. As if soccer needed another way to make scoring impossible (what with tallies that rarely exceed a third). It was a blast though, and was at least as much fun to watch as it was to play.

Pickle Ball

Essentially, this was table tennis on a large scale. The components were a plastic paddle, a wiffle ball and a low net. This was a way to take a game room staple and make it somewhat athletic, though it should be obvious why it hasn’t come to replace actual tennis. Partly for the fact that plastic on plastic offers little trajectory. Next we’ll see large scale fooseball, with huge plastic spinny-dudes and actual soccer goals.

Tumbling

This is what gym teachers called “Gymnastics for Men.” Here gender norm-defying boys would “tumble,” do handstands, cartwheels and a bunch of other things that would be the juiciest insult bait, if it weren’t for the fact that EVERYONE was required to participate. Only good aspect: leotards weren’t mandatory. While it may have its place, as men very much participate in Olympic gymnastic competitions, there aren’t very many recreational clubs catering to this activity, partly for its lack of team-orientedness.

Ultimate Frisbee

Good news: Football has been officially made accessible for stoners, otherwise unmotivated by competition. Ultimate frisbee is, after all, really just Football with a disc, a disk that’s a whole helluva lot easier to catch than a ball (you know, that thing that’s scary when it decides to come right to you). A frisbee at least hovers passively before landing safely in some outstretched arms. Not surprisingly, this “sport” can’t seem to find a place further than college campuses. Now maybe if it had a better work ethic…

Dodgeball

AKA “Find-and-Eliminate Fatty.” This game is the rawest form of determining who in a select group is fit to survive and procreate (all those genital shots help decide this as well). The game requires coordination, reflexes, and other things that a computer game can’t teach. When a gym teacher allows this game to go on, all rules of a fair and decent society quickly disappear to be replaced by basics instincts of the lowest, id-guided order. Now imagine if, instead of job interviews, a game of dodgeball took its place; there’d be no chance of success in this world for the weak. Also, the world would be a very beautiful and largely unintelligent place.

Jump Rope

There’s no knocking that jumping rope is great cardio, and there’s always those champions at the gym who like to exhibit this fact, as if we don’t immediately think of “double dutch” and hot pink nylon chords with frilly handles, at the prospect of “jumping rope.” It is, after all, the activity of choice for little girls. Good thing, though, they do make them in baby boy blue. Gender equality indeed.

Great athletes who never won the big one

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 23:10:00 -0700

Jimmy White

Snooker

Never won: World Championship

Nicknamed the ‘People’s Champion’, Jimmy is one of the most popular snooker players in the history of the sport. The left hander was known for his attacking style of play that enticed fans. He made it to an incredible six World Championship finals, including 5 in a row between 1990-94, but lost on every occasion. Four of those defeats were at the hands of Stephen Hendry, the most successful snooker player of all time. His most agonizing defeat came in 1994, in the last of his six finals. Needing to pot just a few more balls in the final frame of the match, he missed a routine black off the spot, allowing Hendry an opportunity to steal an 18-17 victory. Some will say that
Jimmy never quite had that killer instinct to get over the line on the big occasions, but no one could argue that he was unlucky to play in the same era as two of the games’ greats: Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry.

Interesting fact: Jimmy’s bull terrier, Splinter, was dognapped and held for ransom in the late ‘90s.

Brazil 1982

Football

Never won: World Cup

Brazil has won the World Cup a record 5 times, yet their 1982 team is consistently voted their greatest ever side, and the best football team of all time. Many regard that team as better, even, than their ‘Golden Era’ team of the ‘70s that included the likes of Pele and Carlos Alberto. They went into the ‘82 World Cup in Spain as heavy favorites and their campaign got off to the perfect start. They cruised through their first three group games, scoring 10 goals in the process. They had a mouth watering attack comprising of Zico, Eder, Socrates, Junior and Falcao, whose slick passing and movement mesmerized their opponents. Their philosophy was simple: however many you score, we’ll score one more. In the second round they were drawn in the ‘group of death’ with Argentina and Italy. They breezed past holders Argentina 3-1, but lost 3-2 to Paulo Rossi’s Italy in one of the best World Cup games ever. If the Brazilians had a weakness that year, it was their defense. The brilliant Rossi scored all three goals in that game, and went on to score again in the final as Italy beat West Germany.

Interesting fact: The Brazilian Gold Frog is the smallest frog in the Southern hemisphere; it grows to just 9.8mm.

Greg Norman

Golf

Never won: Major US title

Greg Norman is regarded as one of the most talented, but also one of the unluckiest golfers in history. He was known for his unique style of play, and having one of the best swings in the game. He is generally thought of as the greatest driver of the ball, bar Jack Nicklaus. He won the British open twice, but never won any of the three US majors. On 5 occasions he finished second in one of the three major US titles; the Masters, the US Open and the PGA Championship. In many of these, he led for most of the tournament but always stumbled at the final hurdle.

Interesting fact: Bill Clinton fell down a set of stairs outside Greg Norman’s house in 1997, tearing tendons in his right knee cap.

Dan Marino

American Football

Never won: Super Bowl

Known for his powerful arm and quick release, Dan Marino is one of the most prolific passers the NFL has ever seen. In his 17 year career with the Miami Dolphins, they reached the playoffs on no fewer than 10 occasions. He became a starter for the Dolphins mid way through his rookie season, and by the end of his second season he was named NFL MVP, and had set 6 single-season NFL records including 48 touchdown passes, destroying the previous record of 36. At the end of that season he made his first, and only, Super Bowl appearance, losing to the great Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers. Although he would never make it to another Super Bowl, he continued to smash record after record. At the time of his retirement, in 1999, he held almost every major NFL passing record, many of which still stand today.

Interesting fact: Marino made a cameo appearance in the Adam Sandler movie, Little Nicky, in which he asked Satan for a Super Bowl ring.

Gilles Villeneuve

Formula 1

Never won: F1 World Championship

Gilles Villeneuve’s short F1 career tragically ended in 1982, when he was killed in a high speed collision during qualifying for the Belgium Grand Prix. Despite racing for less than 5 years, he had a long lasting impact on the sport and his rivals. He was famous for his all out, attacking style of driving, no better demonstrated than during an extremely wet practice at the US Grand Prix where he was, at one point, 11 seconds faster than any other driver. He recorded just 6 wins from 67 races, but this was mainly due to the fact that he spent the majority of his career in uncompetitive cars. Villeneuve came closest to becoming World Champion in 1979. Had he beaten his team mate, Jody Schecketer, in the Italian Grand Prix he almost certainly would have won the title, but he agreed to follow team orders and not challenge his team mate for the lead. He lost the championship that year by 4 points to Schecketer.

Interesting fact: His less talented son, Jacques, became F1 World Champion in 1997.
Honorable mention: Stirling Moss

Ted Williams

Baseball

Never won: World Series

Ted Williams was probably the greatest pure hitter that baseball has ever seen. He had a career spanning 21 years, although he only completed 16 full seasons for the Boston Red Sox as he was twice called up to do military service as a Marine Corps pilot. His scientific approach to hitting changed the way baseball was played forever. In four separate seasons he won Most Valuable Player, and the Triple Crown twice each. However, he had a poor relationship with the media and his team’s fans. He often vented his anger in public, and never tipped his cap to the crowd. These were probably the reasons he didn’t get the public following that the more charismatic, but maybe less talented, players such as Joe DiMaggio had. In his only appearance in a World Series, in 1946, he produced a poor display going 0-for-4 in the last game as the Red Sox lost in seven. Five days before the game Williams was struck on the elbow by a curveball and was taken to hospital, possibly hindering his performance.

Interesting fact: Williams was a keen fisherman and was inducted into the Fishing Hall of Fame.
Honorable mention: Ty Cobb

Ivan Lendl

Tennis

Never won: Wimbledon

Despite never winning Wimbledon, Ivan Lendl is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. He dominated men’s tennis in the 1980s, holding the number 1 ranking for the best part of 5 years. He has 3 US Open titles to his name, 3 French and 2 Australian Opens. Lendl made 19 Grand Slam finals in total, and appeared in at least one Grand Slam final for 11 consecutive years, a record only matched by Pete Sampras. He played mainly at the baseline, known for having machine like consistency with his ground strokes. However, the uneven bounces seen on Wimbledon’s grass courts somewhat neutralized his baseline style. He was forced to change his tactics for the grass court season, but his serve and volleying was not consistent enough to deliver him a title. He still had a very impressive record at Wimbledon, making two finals, in 1986 and 1987, and 5 other semifinals.

Interesting fact: In 1986, North Korea issued a postage stamp of Ivan Lendl.

Charley Burley

Boxing

Never won: World Title

Born to a black father and a white mother, boxing managers of the 1940s have said that Charley Burley was ‘too good for his own good’. He was so feared as a fighter that he never got a title shot against any welterweight or middleweight champion of the ’40s. The list of fighters that ducked Burley include: Billy Conn, Marcel Cerdan, Jake LaMotta and even Sugar Ray Robinson, considered the best pound for pound fighter in history. To make things worse, most of the top white fighters also refused to fight him, a problem for so many black and mixed race boxers of the era. Because of this, Burley had a limited choice of opponents and regularly fought and knocked out fighters from welterweight to heavyweight divisions. He had to work, sometimes as garbage collector, throughout his career because he simply couldn’t get enough fights to pay his bills. He retired to go to work full time, because no one would fight him. By the end of his career he had knocked out three world champions in three different weight categories.

Interesting fact: Burley had a chance to appear in the 1936 Olympics, but refused due to Germany’s racist policies.
Honorable mention: Sam Langford

Johan Cruyff

Football

Never won: World Cup

The three time European footballer of the year was recently voted the 2nd best player of the century, only behind Pele. In his only World Cup appearance he led Holland to victories over Argentina and champions Brazil, before they eventually lost in the final to West Germany. Cruyff was instrumental in Holland’s success, and was named player of the tournament that year. After helping Holland qualify for the 1978 World Cup, Cruyff surprised everyone by announcing his retirement from international football. The Dutch again made the final in ’78, and many believe that had Cruyff been in the side, they would have beaten winners Argentina. He made up for his lack of success with his country by the 10 league titles and 3 European Cups he won with Ajax, Barcelona and Feyenoord, as well as countless individual prizes.

Interesting fact: Cruyff was the first Dutch player to be sent off, and received a one year ban from the Dutch FA as a result.
Honorable mentions: Ferenc Puskas and Eusebio

Paula Radcliffe

Marathon

Never won: Olympic Gold Medal

In her first London Marathon she set the second quickest time in women’s marathon history. A year later she had already set the two fastest times, over 3 minutes faster than anyone else. A leg injury in 2004 meant that she was unable to compete at anywhere near her best in Athens. She only managed to start the race by taking high doses of anti-inflammatory drugs, and wasn’t able to finish the marathon for the first time in her career. After missing out in 2004, she was determined to complete in Beijing and, despite being diagnosed with a stress fracture just 3 months prior to the event, she recovered in time for the 2008 games. She started well, but struggled towards the end with cramp, and only finished in 23rd. She still holds the women’s marathon record, and she now has 4 out of the 5 fastest times in women’s marathon history. Radcliffe is, without doubt, the greatest female marathon runner in history, and only misfortune has cost her an Olympic Gold.

Baseball's worst moments

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 02:23:00 -0700

George Steinbrenner

Steinbrenner was the majority owner of the New York Yankees from 1973 to his death in 2010 at the age of 80. During those 37 years, he made the players, coaches, assistant managers, and fans hate his guts. His nickname was “the Boss” which, by the bye, was also Josef Stalin’s nickname among other Soviets.

Among his more ridiculous tyrannies was forcing the players to shave their beards and keep their hair cut military-style. This was during the 70s and 80s, when The Big Hair was in. Players were allowed very thin mustaches if they wanted. He once told coach Yogi Berra to order Goose

Gossage to shave his beard. Berra loathed Steinbrenner, and told him several times that the only reason he worked under Steinbrenner was because he loved the team, and that he did not need or care about the money. Steinbrenner immediately asked him if he wanted a raise, to which Berra answered, “Yeah. Sure.”

Gossage protested the demand by wearing his mustache in the style of Hulk Hogan, which was also against the Boss’s rules. Steinbrenner actually benched Don Mattingly, one of the Yankees’ best at the time, for refusing to cut his mullet. When this infuriated teammates and fans, Steinbrenner relented.

Steinbrenner attended a lavish baseball banquet once and met legendary pitcher Tom Seaver, who made no secret of his disdain for Steinbrenner, criticizing him right to his face. Steinbrenner exploded at him and threatened to fire him on the spot, to which Seaver replied, “I play for the Mets, George.” Steinbrenner snorted and walked off.

He seemed to maliciously enjoy firing people, because he fired managers over 20 times. The most famous of these is Billy Martin, whom Steinbrenner fired and rehired 5 times. The reason for Martin’s firing was always his outspoken criticism of the Boss, and for the Boss to retaliate by firing him every time made a very poor impression throughout the MLB: say one thing he didn’t like and you were gone. There was no margin for error and no possibility of pleasing Steinbrenner.

Juan Marichal vs. John Roseboro

As far as “clearing the benches” goes, no professional incident showers quite such magnificent brutality and dishonor on the sport as the notorious spat between Juan Antonio Marichal Sanchez and John Junior Roseboro that took place on 22 August 1965. Marichal pitched for the San Francisco Giants; Roseboro caught for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the two teams were (and are) arch rivals.

Twice in the 1st three innings, Marichal deliberately pitched so close to lead-off Maury Wills’s head that he had to duck, just to aggravate him. Roseboro decided to trash talk Marichal when he was up at the plate in the bottom of the 3rd. Marichal was already irritable at being shown up by opposing pitcher Sandy Koufax (more on him later), and he and Roseboro exchanged profanity at the plate, until Roseboro started returning Koufax’s pitches deliberately close to Marichal’s head.

Roseboro finally jumped up and got in Marichal’s face to yell, and Marichal simply backed up and smashed Roseboro in the head three times with his bat, knocking him down and opening a gushing gash in his scalp that required 14 stitches. This cleared both benches into a 15-minute, home plate brawl. Willie Mays of the Giants helped Roseboro back to his dugout while Koufax tried to stop it all. The most famous photograph of the fight shows Marichal with the bat reared over his head and Roseboro falling at his feet.

Marichal was given only 9 days suspension and a $1,750 fine, a very light punishment according to most critics. Roseboro recovered without a problem and the two became friends.

Pete Rose Bets on Himself

Rose played for the Cincinnati Reds from 1963 to 1986, and during that time, he accumulated more hits than anyone else in the history of MLB, 4,256. Ty Cobb had had the most hits for 57 years with 4,191 (Rose had 2624 more at-bats). They are still the only two players with over 4,000 hits. “Charlie Hustle” was one of the finest contact hitters in the history of the game. A contact hitter is so called because he regularly makes contact with the ball, but rarely puts home run power behind it. Cobb was also one of the greatest.

Rose was one of the finest all-round players ever, outstanding as a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd baseman, and a right and left fielder. He got his nickname for his fast base running and his zeal to win games. But frequently during his career, he gambled on himself to win and on his own team to win. He never bet that he or his team would lose. That would have amounted to throwing games. Instead, he knew his team was best and figured he could make a little extra money on the side. He didn’t see it as hurting anyone.

The problem was that he knew it was against MLB’s rules and that if discovered, he would face dire consequences. So when scrutiny came upon him, he lied about it. His fans generally agree that this dishonesty is the only qualm they have with him. He also did no good for his personal reputation when, in 1990, he pled guilty to income tax evasion. He went to prison for that, and his gambling addiction finally found mainstream coverage. He finally came clean in 2004, a long time to treat people like they’re stupid.

Nevertheless, by this point, there is even more shame on MLB, and the staff that votes for Hall of Fame inductees, for still refusing to allow such a superlative talent into the Hall of Fame. Its lack of forgiveness for mistakes dishonors the spirit of the game, just as Rose did. In the end, the Hall of Fame itself is tarnished for such an absence, since the Hall of Fame is supposed to honor talent and legacies. Like the Academy Awards, there should be no politics or decisions based on anything other than performance. But as with all voting awards, humans are the voters, and humans can be given to holding grudges.

Ty Cobb Beats up a Fan

What would a pejorative baseball list be without Ty Cobb? He may be the greatest player ever. Hard to say. He still holds several hitting records after a whole century, including career batting average (.367), and most career batting titles (12). He scored 4,191 and stole home 54 times (with his freshly sharpened cleats aimed right at the catcher’s face). But in terms of personality, Cobb was a monster. He had a notoriously vicious, intemperate disposition, and was extremely racist, once slapping a black elevator operator for mouthing off to him, and even stabbing a black constable who tried to stop him.

He once knocked the Detroit Tigers’ groundskeeper’s teeth out for not raking his (the groundskeeper’s) footprints out of the infield before a game, then wrapped the groundskeeper’s wife up in a chokehold when she grabbed him. He and umpire Billy Evans once resolved to settle their extremely vulgar shouting match during a game by fists afterward. Cobb won the fight by beginning with a kick to Evans’s groin, then pinning him and punching him on the ground.

His worst moment, though, occurred on 15 May 1912, when a heckler named Claude Lueker insulted Cobb at the top of his voice for 6 full innings. Not a good idea. To his credit, Cobb tried to ignore him for 3 innings, calling on the opposing manager and two policemen to eject Lueker from the park, but no one did. Finally, at the end of the 6th inning, with Cobb walking back to the dugout, Lueker shouted, “You’re a half-nigger, Cobb!”

Cobb calmly tossed his hat into the dugout and climbed into the stands before anyone could stop him. Lueker was severely handicapped, with one hand and three fingers of the other hand missing from an industrial accident. Cobb punched him right in the face and when the crowd shouted that Lueker had no hands, Cobb roared, “I don’t give a damn if he got no feet!” and continued pummeling him until he was tackled by his own teammates.

He was suspended for the rest of the season, and his Tiger mates boycotted the next game in his defense. Cobb finally exhorted them to play the season out. He put Lueker in the hospital with a broken jaw and nose.

Black Sox Scandal

If you’re a baseball fan, you need no backstory to this. But for those who don’t know, the 1919 World Series was played between the Chicago White Sox (who were branded “Black Sox” for what they did) and the Cincinnati Reds. The White Sox were owned by Charles Comiskey, a tyrannical jerk who viewed the players as his property to do with as he liked. He made Ty Cobb look like Jesus Christ. Comiskey was, like all owners, allowed to pay his players whatever he felt like paying them, and under the MLB Reserve Clause, the players had no say in the matter.

Comiskey promised Eddie Cicotte, a pitcher, a $10,000 bonus if he could win 30 games. When Cicotte won his 28th, Comiskey benched him for the rest of the season to keep from paying up. Comiskey promised the whole team a bonus if they won the 1919 pennant. That bonus was a case of 12 bottles of flat champagne. He forced them to pay their own laundry bills for their uniforms.

Comiskey’s infuriating behavior toward the team caused at least 6 of them to conspire to throw the 1919 World Series to punish him. They were Eddie Cicotte, Arnold Gandil, Charles Risberg, Fred McMullin, Oscar Felsch, and Claude Williams. These 6 men, along with two others, were banned from professional baseball for life. The other two were George Weaver and “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, accused of knowing about the fix and doing nothing to stop it.

Today, history looks more kindly on Weaver, and much more kindly on Jackson. Jackson was illiterate and honestly had no direct knowledge of the fix. He may have safely assumed something was wrong after watching the 6 conspirators making ridiculous errors. Weaver knew what was up, but refused to rat out his friends. He and Jackson played magnificently throughout the series. Jackson is today remembered as one of the absolute finest hitters in history, 3rd in all-time career batting average with .356. In his rookie season of 1911, he hit .408.

The Reds won the series 5-3. Back then the series was of 9 games. The conspirators were great ballplayers but terrible actors, because in the games they decided to throw, even the batboys knew something was amiss. Cicotte, an outstanding pitcher, somehow gave up 5 runs in the 4th inning of the 1st game. This drew immediate suspicion. The Sox lost this game 9 to 1, a ridiculous score for such a fine team.

They lost the 2nd game, too. Dickie Kerr, a rookie pitcher, pitched a shutout in the third, proving he had nothing to do with the fix. Jackson, in the 4th game, attempted to throw a man out at the plate, but Cicotte deliberately caught and fumbled the ball to let him score. Jackson hit a monumental .375 for the series. By the time the series was over, there were more boos than cheers throughout the games. Had it not been, the following year, for a new star the fans could get behind, Babe Ruth, baseball might have died altogether because of this debacle. The 8 players listed above are still ineligible for the Hall of Fame.

Sandy Koufax Throws His Arm Away

One of the saddest ends to what could have been universally accepted as the greatest pitching career in baseball history was the premature retirement, due to severe arthritis, of Sandy Koufax. He played for 12 years, always for the Brooklyn or Los Angeles Dodgers, and yet after those 12 short years, he had posted 2,396 strikeouts, and a career ERA of only 2.76, second lowest in the history of the live-ball era.

His best seasons were 1965 and 1966. For several years, he was pitching full 9 innings of game after game with horrible pain in his left arm, centered at the elbow. The morning after one of these games, he woke to find his arm black and blue from shoulder to wrist from hemorrhaging. To deal with the pain, he began taking Empiring with codeine every night, and sometimes during a game, Butazolidin, and applying a capsaicin cream to his elbow. After each game, he had to immerse his left arm in a tub of ice.

And still, he went out a pitched another complete game the next day, and again, and again. On 9 September 1965, in spite of his agony, he pitched a perfect game. More people have orbited the Moon than have pitched perfect baseball games. It is defined as no hits, walks, struck batters, or any base reached safely by the opposing team. 27 up, 27 down. Koufax’s perfect game also featured the most strikeouts, 14 out of 27.

His pitches were the stuff of legend. Carl Yastrzemski, who retired with 3,419 hits, remarked that “hitting the curveball off Sandy Koufax was like drinking coffee with a fork.” Koufax threw with a marked over-the-top arm motion, not out to the side. This, along with his extremely strong legs, gave him blazing speed with every pitch. His curveball was clocked at 94 mph. It curved from 12 o’clock to 6 o’clock all within the last half to one-third of the distance to the batter, forcing the batters to swing almost straight up, as if golfing, in order to hit it in its descent.

He threw a four-seam fastball that floated upward up to 4 times before reaching the catcher. All the while, his arm was hurting so badly that he began tipping his pitches, letting the batters know what he was about to throw as he wound up. Nevertheless, as Willie Mays put it, “I knew every pitch he was going to throw and still I couldn’t hit him.”

At the end of 1966, with a 1.73 ERA in the books, he had to call it quits. He couldn’t sleep because of the pain, and considered having his arm amputated. Once he gave up pitching, however, his arm quickly healed. Jeff Torborg, who caught his perfect game, once remarked, “It’s like God came and took his arm back.”

Steroids

The phrase that has been thrown around quite a lot during this ongoing scandal is, “The Babe did it on hotdogs and beer.” A lot of people hate to see a decades-old record broken, because they get used to the number involved. The most famous home run number is “60,” ever since Ruth hit that many in a season. Maris broke it 34 years later by just one run. But then, 37 years later in 1998, both Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa surpassed this record in a race against each other. Sosa finished with 66, McGwire with the magic 70.

It seemed too good to be true that not one, but two players could bring down such a hallowed record simultaneously. Then Sosa was caught using a corked bat, which is said to enhance swinging speed. His career would never recover. Then, in 2005, steroids hit the major news media so hard that Congress subpoenaed McGwire, Jose Canseco, and Rafael Palmeiro, three power hitters, to testify under oath. Sosa was discovered to have been using steroids. Canseco admitted to using them and personally injecting Palmeiro, who vehemently denied ever using them. Only months later, he was caught using them. He had lied to Congress and the fans. McGwire simply took the 5th on every question, but 5 years later he came clean and admitted to using them for years to overcome injuries. He claimed they had nothing to do with his home runs, which is obviously false, since all steroids enhance physical strength.

The scandal still hasn’t gone away, and probably never will, since the records remain in the books, and the two most hallowed hitting records, single-season and career home runs, are now both held by Barry Bonds, who has himself been convicted of obstructing justice in the steroids scandal, and is widely believed, though not yet confirmed, to have used them many times throughout his career. After he broke both records, with 73 homers in the 2001 season, and a career 762 homers in 2007, it was expected that he would remain an active player for years afterward, but the SF Giants refuse to renew his contract, and no other team would buy him, the truest testament to public opinion of him.

Christy Mathewson Gets Gassed

Mathewson was one of the mightiest pitchers in baseball’s history. His whole career fell within the dead ball era, when a single ball was used for the entire game. Such balls were difficult to see after they were covered in infield dirt and tobacco spit (spitballs were legal until 1921). Mathewson was no stranger to the spitball, but he was known as a “control pitcher,” as opposed to a power pitcher like Nolan Ryan. Whereas, Ryan could heave a 100+ mph fastball, he isn’t renowned for his skill at any other pitch, and had quite a few wild ones.

Mathewson, however, could throw strikes with everything. You name it: the 2-seam fast, the 4-seam, the forkball, slider, sinker, curve, knuckle, knuckle-curve, palm, palm-curve, and his money pitch, the screwball, which curves in the opposite direction of the curveball. Mathewson could fling them all right into the strike zone and fan anyone.

Consider that, whereas Nolan Ryan scored the most career strikeouts at 5,714, 839 more than 2nd place, he also scored the most walks with 2,795. Thus he walked about 49% of the batters he faced throughout his career. Mathewson, on the other hand, struck out 2,507 batters, while he walked only 848, which is 33% of them. That’s a gargantuan margin of difference between two greats and serves to show the accuracy of “the Christian Gentleman.”

Unfortunately, he was stolen too early from baseball’s posterity, when, in 1918, he enlisted into WWI as a chemical weapons trainer for the infantry. Ty Cobb and George Sisler also enlisted into the same unit, and the three saw each other frequently in France. As a captain, Mathewson’s job was to oversee the training, in gas chambers, of controlled release of mustard gas amid soldiers wearing their gas masks.

His voice inside the chamber was misunderstood by the gas operator outside as the order to release the gas. Once they heard the hiss, Mathewson first saw to the soldiers’ safety by ordering their masks on immediately. Only then, when milliseconds were precious, did he shout for the gas to be turned off. The operator did so, but there was a delay of more time than Mathewson could hold his breath. One private attempted to remove his mask, but Mathewson, with his eyes shut tight, knowing the sound of a mask being removed or put on, quickly yanked the man’s hands from his face and shouted for him to remain still.

Mathewson finally had to take a breath or risk blacking out. That single breath before the room was purged gave him tuberculosis. He tried coaching for a while when he returned the next year, but had to take frequent vacations for his lungs’ health, before finally retiring in 1921. He died 4 years later at 45 years old. His teammates openly wept at the first game following his death.

Lou Gehrig’s Disease

Lou Gehrig has the persistent misfortune to remain in Babe Ruth’s shadow as a power hitter. Gehrig hit his stride in 1926, his third season as a professional, in which he scored 20 triples, 47 doubles, 16 home runs, 116 RBIs, and an average of .313. Ruth posted much better home run and batting average scores, but if there was any ignoring that Lou Gehrig had joined him in the ranks of power hitting, he shattered that illusion the next year.

The 1927 Yankees remain, in most opinions, the finest professional baseball team in history. Ruth did himself proud by slamming 60 home runs to Gehrig’s “mere” 47, but Gehrig outpointed him in RBIs at 175, especially impressive given that Ruth batted 3rd and Gehrig 4th, and thus the bases were frequently emptied right before “the Iron Horse” stepped up. The Yankees’ line-up that season featured “Murderers’ Row”: Earle Combs, Mark Koenig, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Bob Meusel and Tony Lazzeri.

Combs and Koenig were outstanding contact hitters and routinely on base to be batted in by the next two. Gehrig’s position as 4th is why he still holds the career grand slam record of 23. His average that season was .373, by far the highest of the team, with Ruth and Combs at .356 (still stellar).

Late in his career, Gehrig, generally considered the finest 1st baseman in history, began having trouble making easy put-outs at 1st. He had run the bases like lightning for years but now only trotted, and slid very clumsily. He tripped over bases, and most obvious, by late 1938, his hitting power was noticeably diminished. He could make contact but somehow couldn’t manage home runs as well.

Everyone knew he was not guilty of partying and bingeing like his recently retired friend, Babe. This was not in Gehrig’s nature. By April 1939, he was posting his very worst scores ever. Only a .143 average with 1 RBI. Commentators remarked that he was hitting the ball on a regular basis like always, but the ball wasn’t going anywhere.

It was 2 May of that year when he finally broke his consecutive games streak of 2,130, a record that stood until 1995. Gerig walked up to the coach and said, “I’m benching myself, Joe.” He saw that he was only hindering the team and couldn’t do anything anymore.

His wife and he finally flew to the Mayo Clinic, where, after 6 days of testing, Dr. Charles Mayo himself wept as he read Eleanor Gehrig the diagnosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. It causes the brain’s motor functions to deteriorate over several years or even decades, such that the victim tries to run or walk or stand up but gets slower and weaker without any impairment to the brain. The brain slowly loses its ability to communicate with muscles all over the body. There is almost never any pain at all, and for an athlete, seemingly no good reason for the bad performance.

Gehrig’s farewell, on 4 July 1939, between the games of a doubleheader, remains what most consider the most painfully bittersweet moment in the history of baseball. Gehrig was showered with gifts from teammates, rival players, coaches, managers, owners, and fans, which he took and quickly set down on the infield because he was too weak to hold them.

After Babe Ruth said a few words, Gehrig addressed the crowd of 61,808 in Yankee Stadium and told them not to feel bad for him, that he was “the luckiest man on the face of the earth.” His number 4 uniform was the first to be retired by any team in MLB history. In December of that year, he became the youngest inductee in to the Hall of Fame at the age of 36 (Sandy Koufax remains the record-holder today). He received the most votes for a position on the All-Century Dream Team in 1999.

He died 1 and a half years later on 2 June 1941 at his home, due to asphyxia from the ultimate paralysis of his diaphragm and abdominal muscles. Many sports writers and experts are of the opinion that had he played a long career of 20-25 years, instead of just 16, he would have surpassed many of Babe Ruth’s hitting records.

Pine Tar Incident

Everyone loves to see a person get really angry. It’s entertaining. But on 24 July 1983, with the Kansas City Royals playing the Yankees, Royal George Brett realized every kid’s dream of saving a game in the 9th inning by slamming a homer. It was a two-run bash that put the Royals up 5-4. As he crossed home and disappeared into the dugout, the home plate umpire, Tim McClelland, was alerted by Yankees manager Billy Martin that Brett’s bat might have more than 18 inches of pine tar on it, from the tip of the handle up.

More than 18 inches of any substance on the bat is a violation of the rules, and after several minutes of measuring the bat against the wide end of home plate, which is 17 inches, the three umpires agreed that Brett was in violation. McClelland then searched for him in the dugout, found him, and motioned that he was out. This is all televised and can be found on YouTube.

Brett immediately charged out of the dugout, so infuriated that his face was bright pink, bellowing profanity and raging at McClelland that he was going to kill him. The Royals manager, Dick Howser, and several of Brett’s teammates had to tackle him to keep him off McClelland, who also voided the home run and declared the game over and the Royals the losers.

A sports commentator quipped, “Brett has become the first player in history to hit a game-losing home run.” The Royals protested the ruling, and it was overturned because an illegal bat would necessitate the batter being called out, but that because pine tar did not assist the distance of a struck baseball, Brett’s home run would count. The game was ordered to be resumed from that point, and the Royals won, 5-4. Brett’s rampage did not exactly send a good message to his young fans.

Haircuts featuring Michael Jordan

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 00:46:00 -0700

Do you know the latest hair style trends and want to cut your hair? Then visit Joe Barber of San Antonio based barber shop Razor Sharp Cutz. The artist barber Joe can shave haircuts featuring Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Kevin Durant, and
even George Lopez on the back of your head with a reasonable price of $75.

Wonderful Triathlon sport

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 03:28:00 -0700

A triathlon sport is about endurance, about correct timing of your speed and proper fueling of your body. Like all the endurance sports, its about your motivation and about excellent training and preparation all over the years. The most famous triathlon is the Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. This year will take place on October 13, 2012. The last year winner wasAlexander Craig with the total time 08:03:56 – 2.4 mile (3.8 km) swim for 51:56, 112 mile (180 km) bike ride for 4:24:05 and finally marathon (26.2 mile/42 195 m) for 2:44:03. So do you think that you can do it? Think twice;)

Bobby Petrino went against university

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 05:11:00 -0700

Bobby Petrino was so desperate to have his mistress Jessica Dorrell as part of his football staff he went around University of Arkansas protocol to get her hired, according to documents obtained by SI.com

Petrino requested a waiver to go around the school's affirmative action policy requiring every job opening to be posted for at least 30 days before interviews can begin, the report states.

Here's what SI.com's Freedom of Information Act request revealed:

The job opening for a football player development coordinator was posted March 4.

Athletic director Jeff Long pushed for Petrino's request to be approved on March 9.

Dorrell's interview happened before the waiver was even granted.

Toward the end of the process, Dorrell was one of three finalists out of a pool of 159 candidates.

Dorrell was given the job despite NOT having a few of the "minimum qualifications" for the position, specifically a "master's degree in a related field" and "two years of prior experience within a football program."

The two other finalists for the job were leaps and bounds more qualified for the job Dorrell was given and actually had football experience.

That was obviously of no concern to Petrino, who despite these shortcomings said that out of all three candidates, Dorrell "had the best experience and we felt like she would be the best fit for this position."

An Alabama running back

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 00:44:00 -0700

With less than two weeks to go until the 2012 NFL Draft, you would understand if Trent Richardson was declining all requests in preparation for the biggest night of his career.

But even though most project Richardson as a top-five pick, and with millions of dollars on the line, Richardson will take one night off to escort a young lady with Leukemia to her senior prom.

Shon Coleman, a senior at Hueytown High School in Alabama, talks about how she was diagnosed with Leukemia as a junior and was unable to attend her junior prom and was without a date for her senior prom.

That's when her uncle, who apparently has some connections at the University of Alabama, asked around to see if anybody would be interested, and Trent Richardson accepted the offer.

Good for you Mr. Richardson, good for you.

Famous sporting heroes

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 01:20:00 -0700

It’s a common fact, although some will deny it, that most people favor their own nation, or even continent, sometimes to the extreme. America for example, awards Oscar, Grammy and Emmy trophies to mainly Americans, yet they claim that these are international awards.

One would expect this to only apply in the entertainment industry, however this is also the case in the sporting world. For example, Football, which is, without a doubt, the most popular international sport, completely gets ignored by the US, due to America’s lack of achievements (this also applies to Rugby, Cricket, Formula 1 and many other international sports).

Football giants such as Diego Maradona, George Best, Zinedine Zidane, Michel Platini and Lev Yashin, might be famous worldwide, but they are widely unknown in the US. Likewise, American football is only known mainly in America (hence the name!), the vast majority of the players are American, yet they are known in the US, as “world champions.” The same could also be said for baseball, even when other nations beat the US, for example during the Olympics (Japan, Korea, and Cuba beat the US regularly), yet American national champions are still known as world champions… slightly ironic!

Of course, there are many American global greats such as Michael Phelps, Mark Spitz, Michael Jordan, Jim Thorpe, Rocky Marciano, Andre Agassi, Muhammad Ali, Pete Sampras, Jesse Owens, Billie Jean King, John McEnroe, Larry Bird, Lance Armstrong, Oscar De La Hoya, Greg Louganis, just to name few, but one does wonder when he sees names (mainly in the American media) such as Tom Brady, Reggie Bush, Jerry Rice, Derek Jeter and many more, being labelled as “the best in the world” if that really is a valid title. How can you be the best in the entire world, when you are competing in a sport that is predominantly played by one nation?

Note – there are already many lists about all time great legends from soccer, rugby, cricket and F1, so for the purpose of this list, these sports have been excluded. Special thanks to Katie the “Ainglish,” without her help, this list wouldn’t be half as good.

“Iron” Mike Zambidis

There’s no doubt that if this guy was an American, his name would be in every American fighting magazine and he would be as famous as “Iron” Mike Tyson was. Mike is a true living legend of kickboxing, who has delivered some of the most impressive knock-outs in the history of any combat sport, which is the reason why he got the nickname, “Iron Mike.” Zambidis is a professional Greek kick boxer and martial artist. He is a 15 time World Champion with an impressive record of 148 wins (85 KO victories) in 165 fights. He has won every world title there is, including W.O.K.A, W.I.P.U, W.K.B.F, K-1 World Max world titles, among others. He is considered by many analysts as one of the greatest pound for pound kick boxers who ever lived.

Regla Torres Herrera

Regla Torres Herrera is for women’s volleyball what Soviet Aleksandr Savin or the American Karch Kiraly are for men’s volleyball, one of the greatest, if not the greatest of all time. Standing at 1.91m in her socks, Regla Torres Herrera was a towering presence on the volleyball court for the Cuban national team. One of the most dominant middle hitters and blockers ever, she guided her team to a hat-trick of Olympic gold medals between 1992 and 2000 as well as World Championship trophies in 1994 and 1998. During the 1992 Olympic Games she became the youngest ever gold medalist in volleyball, after helping Cuba defeat the Unified Team 3-1 as a 17 year-old. The International Volleyball Federation named Torres the best female player of the 20th century.

Jan Železný

A dominant figure in the world of javelin, Zelezný had the right genes for javelin throwing and that showed from a really young age. After winning bronze at the World Championships in 1987 and silver at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, he started dominating the sport from the early 1990s. Zelezný claimed Olympic gold medals in 1992, 1996 and 2000, and three World Championships titles in 1993, 1995 and 2001, setting five world records in the process, and was voted IAAF Athlete of the Year in 2000. He is the only athlete to throw more than 94 meters with the new type of javelin, something he achieved five times.

David Douillet

David Douillet is a retired French judoka and politician. He is considered the most decorated judoka in history and, at the Olympics of 2000 in Sydney, he became the heavyweight fighter with the most international titles. With six major international titles (2 Olympic titles, 4 world titles), he passed the Japanese Yasuhiro Yamashita (1 Olympic title, 4 world titles) who won his titles in the 1970s. He won a total 11 medals in the major competitions, 3 at the Olympics, 4 in the world championships and 4 in the European championships.

The biggest problem during his career was his multiple injuries which finally forced him to retire at the age of 31, after his victory in the Olympic tournament in Sydney. It’s possible that he could have won more titles, if he didn’t have to deal with so many injuries during his career.

Larissa Latynina

Her name is synonymous with dominance and victory. She won 18 Olympic medals, more than any other competitor in any sport, and was responsible for establishing the Soviet Union as the dominant force in gymnastics. She also holds the record for most individual medals (14 outside of team events) in Olympic history. Few athletes have dominated a sport to the extent of gymnast Larissa. During that period, the graceful Soviet star displayed her class at three different Olympic Games. She’s the only female athlete to win nine Olympic gold medals to this day, and it’s a safe bet to say that Larissa will be the female athlete with the most gold and total medals for a very long time.

Peter Snell

Born on 17 December, 1938, in Opunake, New Zealand, Peter Snell is one of the best middle-distance runners of all time. He became the first man since 1920 to win gold medals at both the 800m and 1500m at the same Olympics. Four years earlier he had won his first gold, in the 800 metres at the Rome Olympics. At the absolute height of his career, Snell stunned New Zealand and the athletics world as he decided to quit and pursue other goals in life. When he ended his career, in 1965, as a 26-year-old man, Snell was a triple Olympic champion, a double gold medal winner at the Commonwealth Games, and he had set multiple world records, most notably at the 800m and 1000m. Peter Snell, is a giant of athletics and a legend in New Zealand.

Sawao Kato

Kato is one of the most successful gymnasts ever at the Olympics, with his 8 gold medals and 12 overall. Also, he has won more Olympic gold medals than any other male gymnast and more Olympic gold medals than any Asian athlete in the history of any sport.

He is his country’s most decorated sportsman and a member of the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. As of 2011, Sawao Kato is one of only nine people ever in the history of the Olympic Games to have won at least eight Olympic gold medals, with legends such as Michael Phelps (14), Larisa Latynina (9), Carl Lewis (9), Mark Spitz (9), Paavo Nurmi (9), Birgit Fischer (8), Bjørn Dæhlie (8) and Jenny Thompson (8) being the other athletes of this elite group.

Joe Calzaghe

No matter what you say about the Welsh Dragon, it will never be enough. Joe is simply one of the greatest boxers of all time, and the greatest super middleweight boxer who ever lived. Joseph William Calzaghe, is a Welsh former professional boxer. He is the former WBO, WBC, WBA, IBF, The Ring and British super middleweight champion, and The Ring light heavyweight champion. Calzaghe is the longest-reigning world champion in the last 30 years, having held the WBO super middleweight title for over eleven years, until he relinquished the title to concentrate on fighting at light heavyweight. He retired in February 2009, with an undefeated record, becoming one of the very few legends (with others being giants of the sport such as Rocky Marciano and Laszlo Papp) to retire as an undefeated world champion. He’s also one of the few boxers in history who won every major belt there is, including The Ring’s magazine belt in two different divisions. During his impressive career Joe Calzaghe did beat many other great boxers such as Roy Jones and Bernard Hopkins in the US, in front of a hostile American crowd, undefeated champions at the moment like Jeff Lacy, in a must-watch fight, where Joe won all 12 rounds and gave Lacy a boxing lesson; he also won against an undefeated (at the moment) world champion Mikkel Kessler and Chris Eubank. Calzaghe retired as a champion with a perfect record of 46 wins (32 KO’s) and no losses. Most analysts agree that he belongs in the elite pantheon of the sport and he’s arguably the greatest British boxer of all time.

Sébastien Loeb

The Frenchman is the modern day “Napoleon” for France, and how couldn’t he be, with all the records and achievements that this man has set already; there’s no doubt that he definitely deserves to be in here. He has won the world championship a record eight times in a row and also holds several other WRC records. For one to realize how dominant Loeb is, and how he took the sport to another level, one would have only to check the numbers. The record for the most victories in the history of the sport was 26, held by another legend, Carlos Zainz, while the record for the most world championships won, was 4, held by Juha Kankkunen and Tommi Mäkinen, but all this was before Loeb’s era. With a total 8 world championships, 67 victories, 808 stage wins, 103 podiums (first and only in history with over 100) and 1281 points, Sébastien could claim the title of the greatest driver-athlete of all time, from any auto and motor sport. The scariest part of all though is that he’s still active and hungry for more titles.

Laszlo Papp

Here’s another case of an athlete who had the bad luck to be born in the wrong country, in the wrong time. Papp became the first man in history to win three successive gold medals at the Olympics of 1948, 1952 and 1956, something that only Felix Savon and Teofilo Stevenson succeeded after him; he also won gold in two European championships in Oslo and Milan. After three Olympic gold medals there was little left for Papp to achieve in the amateurs. He had gathered an unbelievable record of 306 official victories, only three losses and six draws. Papp was interested in fighting as a professional and, even though it was against the principles of the Communist society, the officials gave him their blessing as a contribution for all the success Papp had brought to his homeland. Papp was getting older and running out of time, but he still got his chance to fight for the European title in 1965, which he won by knocking out Danish champion Chris Christensen in eight rounds. Papp won the rematch faster than that, twice, and defended his title successfully for a total five times. A victory over Sugar Ray Robinson’s former challenger, Ralph “Tiger” Jones, proved that Papp was to be taken seriously in the pro level as well, even at his old age.

Papp already had a contract fighting for the world title in the United States, and he was willing to travel there, but the Hungarian officials prevented it. They announced that it was time for the 39 year-old Papp to end his career and to come back to his homeland and retire. The loyal man that Papp was, he did that and finished his professional career being undefeated in 29 fights, with 27 victories and two draws.

Papp was inducted into the International Boxing Hall Of Fame, in 2001. In 1989, WBC President José Sulaimán, gave Papp an award for ‘Best amateur and professional boxer of all time’ and granted him honorary champion status of the World Boxing Council. Papp was known as a quiet, honest man who never bragged about himself but did his talking inside the ring. In there, his fists told a story that will never be forgotten from the minds of the boxing fans, at least the true boxing fans outside the US, where boxing is a sport and not a battlefield of financial, racial and political games of boxing promoters, boxing fans and media.

Yiannis Kouros

Probably he deserves the #1 spot of this list, but I was afraid that I would be accused of personal and national favoritism, considering my previous list of the 15 most influential Greeks. Even though he’s the absolute number 1 in my personal list of athletes, I will give him the second spot and just list the facts and numbers about the athlete Yannis Kouros, and you may be the judge.

According to the facts and record books (Guinness included) the legendary Greek ultra-marathon runner holds more world records than any athlete in the history of any popular sport with 134 world records. It’s recorded officially that he’s the man who has run the most hours, days, weeks, months, years and miles than any other man in the history of mankind. New York Times – among other international papers and magazines – covered the NY 6-day race back in 1984, where Kouros broke 16 World Records and left the whole world speechless.

He’s the athlete with the most records in the Guinness Book of World Records (31) from any sport, he has won 71 ultra marathons in every continent, more than anyone in history and he holds, to this day, all the world records in the following races: 1) 100 miles Road, 2) 100 km Track, 3) 1000 km Road, 4) 1000 miles Road, 5) 12h Road, 6) 12h Track, 7) 24h Road, 8) 24h Track, 9) 48h Road, 10) 48h Track, 11) 6 days Track and 12) 6 days Road.

Some selected titles or expressions that Y. Kouros has been called by the world Press: “Ultra-marathon God,” “King of the road,” “Emperor of Ultra-running,” “Golden Greek,” “Bionic Kouros,” “Miracle Man,” “Superhuman,” “Poet in Motion,” “Fearless,” “Incomparable,” “The Greatest,” “Greek Streak,” “Super Kouros,” “Relentless,” “Amazing Yiannis,” and “Speed Kouros.”

Kouros has also written over 1,000 poems, several of which appear in his book Symblegmata (Clusters) and the book The Six-Day Run of the Century.

Aleksandr Karelin

Probably the most famous athlete in the US, from the 15 in the list, but I still feel like it’s not enough for an athlete of his status, the little respect and recognition he enjoys in the US, from the hardcore fans of wrestling mainly. Karelin holds a Ph.D. in Physical Education. Nicknamed the “Russian Bear,” “Alexander the Great,” and “The Experiment,” he went undefeated in international competition for 13 years (spanning from 1987 to 2000). After going so many years undefeated in international competition, and six years without giving up a point, thanks to his injuries and broken ribs only 5 months before the Olympics, he suffered an upset loss to Rulon Gardner in the gold-medal match at the Sydney Olympics. A healthy Karelin had earlier beaten Gardner easily, in 1997.

He is universally considered to be the greatest Greco-Roman wrestler of all time and many agree that he might be the greatest athlete of all time from any combat or fighting sport. Karelin was over 6’5 tall (1,96cm) and weighed 130 kg (286 lb). During his incredible career he won 4 medals at the Olympics, gold at the Olympics of 1988, 1992, 1996 and a silver at his last Olympics of 2000; he also won 9 world titles in 9 participations and 12 European titles in 12 participations. His dominance on the highest level of competition is unmatched by any other athlete from any other combat sport. Karelin was famous for his reverse body lift, the “Karelin Lift,” where facing the opponent who was lying flat on the mat to keep from being thrown, Karelin hoisted his opponents into the air and slammed them violently to the mat. This devastatingly effective maneuver, when properly executed, awarded Karelin 5 points per throw, the maximum awarded in Greco-Roman wrestling. The throw had long been in use by lighter wrestlers but not by heavyweights since the technique required immense strength. Karelin’s ability to perform this throw against elite opponents weighing as much as 130 kg was amazing to audiences as well as other participants and observers of the sport. FILA (International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles) named Karelin as the greatest wrestler ever, as soon as Karelin retired from the sport back in 2000.

Yuriy Sedykh

A Soviet legend of athletics, who dominated the world of hammer throwing during the late 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. Unlike many hammer throwers, Sedykh threw off three turns rather than four. He felt three turns were sufficient, as he threw nearly the same distances with four turns in practice. He won gold medals at the 1976 and 1980 Summer Olympics, as well as taking first place at the 1986 Goodwill Games and the 1991 World Championships in Athletics. He also won three gold medals at the European games.

He couldn’t defend his title at the Olympics of Los Angeles, in 1984, because the Soviet Union boycotted the American Olympic Games. He would have probably added another gold medal to his impressive collection, since he was by far the best in the world during the Olympics of 1984. He still holds the world record, which is the longest current world record from any event of the athletics for men, a world record which he set back in the summer of 1986. He broke the world record a total six times.

World's best boxing moves

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 01:19:00 -0700

There is a lot to learn about the sweet science if you want to be a part of the fistic world. If you are serious about the art of pugilism, a boxing trainer is highly recommended as you learn the basics and improve your technique as time flies. This is a list comprising of some of those moves you may hear about as you get into boxing, or you already know them by heart as I’m sure is the case with consummate boxing fans.

The Straight

Not to be confused with a jab, a straight is a power shot. You deliver it by crossing over your dominant hand to deliver the blow, and hence it’s also called the “cross.” For orthodox fighters who have a left foot forward stance, the left hand is best used for jabbing, with the right hand for a straight shot. It’s vice-versa for southpaw fighters, who have a right foot forward stance. While

generally orthodox fighters and southpaw fighters are right handed and left handed respectively, it is not always the case. This is the only one of the four basic boxing punches exclusively featured on this list, jab, hook and uppercut being the other three. This is due to the fact that it is extremely slick, and is almost always a part of any boxing combos imaginable, starting from the elementary one-two, to a variety of counters. Floyd Mayweather, as famed as he is for his defensive prowess, will use his fast straights repeatedly to immobilize his opponents to win his matches.

The Bolo Punch

The “Bolo Punch” is essentially a long swinging uppercut, but that’s not the trick. Because of the fact that such long drawing action will be obviously spotted by your opponent, the move capitalizes on distraction. The back hand is dropped or swirled around to give your opponent the impression that a heavy hook or straight is coming up, while you use your lead hand to land a powerful blow. You must really sell your supposed upcoming punch to distract your opponent, and this may leave you open. But boxing maestros such as Sugar Ray Leonard and Kid Gavilan were able to pull it off elegantly. In recent memory, Roy Jones Jr. was a great exponent of this audacious deception move.

The Haymaker

The “Haymaker” works exactly like a hook, with just a bigger extension of your hooking arm. It is preferred because of its enormous power potential. You cock back your hand for extra extension, and deliver the haymaker in wide semi-circular looping fashion, just like you would deliver a hook, but with more force, putting all your weight behind it. Because you are putting so much effort into one punch, it can leave you open and unbalanced, so the wild haymaker is better used as a finishing move when the opponent is already weakened and unable to counter. There are, however, question marks as to what is a good haymaker, and it seems that a wildly flung over exerted hooks are relegated to the haymaker category, which would mark poor technique.

Check Hook

The “Check Hook” is another variation of the hook. This move is more dependent on the particular situation of the fight as the only way to make it work is if your opponent lunges in or charges forward. Basically, you pivot your left foot as the opposition comes in (provided you are right handed) and turn and hook at the same time. This makes them miss you momentarily as you are turned sideways, and at the same time the pivotal force added to the hook drops them. You attract them like a matador would attract a bull, and then move out of the way, landing a shot in the process. If done correctly, your opponent should be fast on the floor. Mayweather used the check hook to knock-out the then undefeated Ricky Hatton, in what many consider the purest example of the move.

The Parry

I have featured one basic offensive move, the straight, so it’s only fair that one basic defensive move be also featured amongst all these other tricks. When you think of boxing defense, dodging or blocking comes to mind first. Dodging by slipping, weaving or just retracting, and blocking using the arms, gloves or shoulders. Parrying is somewhat left out of the average boxing fan’s imagination, which is why it’s important to stress how useful and cool the move can be. It’s only standard defense procedure like I said, and what happens is that you deflect your opponent’s punches using the opposite hand or elbow to the one they are using. You can parry a punch inside or outside, just helping to direct their punch elsewhere aside than at your direction. The parry doesn’t absorb the punch’s power, thereby causing minimal damage to your hands, but also it leaves your opponent unbalanced if done correctly, giving you more space and time to counter as their hands are momentarily out of the way. It is truly a beautiful defensive move. Jack Johnson was known as a parry expert, and in more recent times Larry Holmes had a very unique elbow parry, where he would rotate his elbow upwards to deflect punches.

The Body Drop Feint

Feints cause no damage whatsoever to the opponent, rather it’s a distraction ruse. It allows your opponent to think you are about to do one thing – in motion for a certain punch – only to find you switching it up with another punch aimed at a different spot. It can also be used to predict your opponent’s reactions as to how they act to your feint, whether they choose to block, parry, or slide underneath. By understanding their defensive patterns better, it gives you the chance to stay one step ahead as the aggressor. One of the most spectacular feints is the body drop. Your move your upper body in a quick bend, dropping your left knee and moving your left hand forward. From there on, it can be doubled up with other feint combinations, such as the drawback feint where you raise your dominant arm to emulate a straight cross. Boxers with blinding hand speed are most well equipped for feint moves, because their opponents have to be eternally alert for incoming rapid punches. Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan are able to slip in a feint or two between their usual flurries of punches, just so they can go for an ever better shot than originally planned.

Pull Counter

The “Pull Counter” is a move which requires a tremendous amount of skill, and maybe also natural gifts, as it is one straight out of the books of matrix. It is also one of the simplest in terms of technique. You slightly lean in towards your opponent, setting the trap, and then draw your head back rapidly to evade the thrown punch and then counter it with a straight. It looks flattering in slow mo and is heavily reliant upon the fighter’s reflexes. It is always in the arsenal of elusive fighters, big and small. Consider Muhammad Ali and Naseem Hamed, both having their fare share of fun with this move, while using it to devastating effectiveness at the same time.

Heads and Hooks

This move is a delight to watch as one marvels at how comfortable the fighters are in their action and how many times they must have practiced it in the gym to perfect it. Basically, the fighter uses the head to push against the body of the opponent, while able to land left and right hooks without looking up. It is not head butting, but rather using the tucked head as a shield of sorts where the opponent has to punch lower to land anything at all, something which you don’t train for normally. Only the uppercut might be a solid counter move in this case or the opponent could get low himself which is likely to result in the clash of heads and lead to a more physical roughhouse fight. So it’s definitely irksome for a fighter to face somebody who is an expert at the low head stance. Tim Bradley and Lamont Peterson are two boxers today very adapt at feeling the way through a match using their heads, literally.

Dempsey Roll & Gazelle Punch

For purists, these two moves are separate, but it is their combinatorial effect which renders it as a true art form. The eponymous “Dempsey Roll” is named after its inventor Jack Dempsey, who used the defensive technique called bob and weave, but with vastly more emphasis, crouching his head and lowering his shoulders before getting back up again and repeating it in a figure eight motion. Now Floyd Patterson is accredited with developing the “Gazelle Punch” where he would leap up from a down bend position to deliver a punch. You can see clearly how the two maneuvers fit, and both Dempsey and Patterson would complete each other’s part unknowingly though each deserving half of the move’s accolades. So in reality, what this shows is that Dempsey Roll and Gazelle Punch were always paired together, with the fighter inching in closer in a well orchestrated defensive tactic, and then using that same momentum to deliver a tough upwards blow. This could either be a hook, straight or an uppercut. Mike Tyson was a master at this move already familiar with his trainer Cus D’Amato’s preached bobbing and weaving. But I have even seen small fighters such as Nonito Donaire do this as well, which again goes to show how size doesn’t really matter if you have got the techniques right.

Jab And Grab

As the name suggests, the “Jab and Grab” is self explanatory. Like many other boxing moves, this can be considered to be a mixture of offense and defense as you lead in with a jab and quickly proceed to grab your opponent so as to neutralize any further attacks coming at you. The rapid closure of distance is essential as you don’t give the opponent any room to free their arms. And the right power and conviction of the jab is a necessity as well, as you would definitely want to score a hit before clinching on to your opponents, or the whole move becomes redundant. The Klitschko brothers use this maneuver a lot and Andre Ward is another recent exponent of such move.

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 00:47:00 -0700

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier has never been one to shy away from taking a shot at rival schools and coaches. Ole Ball Coach was up to his old tricks.

When asked about having South Carolina's game against Georgia moved to later in the year, Spurrier explained why he was against the move...

"I don't know. I sort of always liked playing them that second game because you could always count on them having two or three key players suspended."

And later, he took a shot at the success Nick Saban has enjoyed at Alabama, and even Kentucky's John Calipari gets caught in the cross-fire...

"He's got a nice little gig going, a little bit like (John) Calipari. He tells guys, 'Hey, three years from now, you're going to be a first-round pick and go.' If he wants to be the greatest coach or one of the greatest coaches in college football, to me, he has to go somewhere besides Alabama and win, because they've always won there at Alabama."

Former girl friend Veena Malik

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 00:33:00 -0700

Veena Malik Former model and ex girl friend of Mohammad Asif has revealed the hidden secret that Asif is a ‘seriel match fixer. In a news channel she fuelled the fire of match fixing scandal when Pakistani players are already in the center stage of the biggest scandal in cricket history.

She said Asif was was telling that Pakistan will not win a series until 2010.

Asif gave bribe to an indian doctor at IPL during his dope test. Once he told “stop praying…..we will not win a single match during the tour to Australia”.

“He went to Bangkok to meet some bookmakers within a notice of 24 hours. This is when we were in a relationship. The conversation on the phone before the tour of Australia was specifically about fixing.”

Indian bookie’s incoming SMS: Asif used to send texts to Dhiraj Dixit (a photo journalist) from his servant’s numbers.

Conversation: Dhiraj says: “I can give you 40,000 dollars for this deal. Asif says: “No I want 200,000 dollars.” Dhiraj says: I would like some more team members for this deal.”

She also adds: “After this Asif disappeared for a day. After some checks I found out he had gone to Bangkok and returned within 24 hours. Upon returning and finding out that I had discovered something, Asif became a little shady and we started having fights.”.

Lastly Veena Malik told that she has enough evidences to testify.

Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 00:26:00 -0700

Both Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson revealed that during the last year tour of England they were approached by the same Mumbai Gangster-suspected fixer who tried to entrap Shane Watson and wicket keeper Brad Haddin. The Confirmation came just after Watson and Haddin came out first time that they were approached by a Mumbai Gangster with links to illegal bookmakers.

Lee, Watson and Johnson were approached in the bar of the team’s hotel in West London while Haddin was contacted in the hotel room in the night at around 11pm.

Haddin said “I got a knock on my door from someone asking if I wanted to come across to their room to have a drink, which I thought was a bit odd’’. ‘‘So I shut the door and got back onto Skype with my wife and said ‘That was odd, I’ll call you back’.

“You don’t usually get a knock on your door with someone asking you to come across to your room for a drink and then go out for dinner with someone you don’t know.

“They checked footage of who the person was and it was someone that they were well aware of.”

While Watson says ‘I didn’t think too much of it until I found out a bit more information and that he was actually one of the illegal bookmakers. It was just a little bit different to what normal fans are.’

Watson is disappointed for Pakistani player Mohammad Aamer, involved in the scandal and said ‘I was in shock after the news broke out. I feel the most for Aamer. I found him as a great competitor. He is just 18 and if found guilty, he could be banned for life’.

Marathon runner Haile Gebrselassie

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 6 Apr 2012 00:42:00 -0700

Haile Gebrselassie was born in Ethiopia on April 18, 1973. He grow up in family of ten children. What is the best on his life story and what every marathon runner know, is that he everyday ran 10 km to school with books in his hand and evenings runned back the same distance long. That has still impact on his left hand movement technique. But be honest, when I would have at least 50% of such pose running technique like he has, I would be overall happy.

Because Haile won so many championships, I will mention just the most impressive ones. If you preffer Olympic games gold medals, than he won two on 10000m long distance run – in Atlanta (1996) and in Sydney (2000).

If you preffer world records than all you have to remember is the following: Year 2008 – Berlin Marathon and magic time: 2:03:59.

That is half of mine time. But that is good news, I have a lot of space for improvement;)

Haile annouced retirement after New York City Marathon in 2010 because of problems with his knee. I assume that he has reconsidered his opinion and we can meet him on Vienna City Marathon 2011 on 21.1K (I am already training to catch him;) and on 2012 London Olympics. Keep running.

Fitness running

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 4 Apr 2012 00:50:00 -0700

If you search the net for any kind of images you will match many results. But to find good image of a running girl that is a magic. So girls, please, its spring outside (on my side of globe), go out and run. I know that you like fitness, don’t be ashamed and run.

Best golf women player

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 2 Apr 2012 00:24:00 -0700

Yani Tseng is a professional golf player which won the 2011 LPGA Championship. LPGA meansLadies Professional Golf Association. Yani Tseng won this championship in 2008 too. Yani Tseng is from Taiwan and is the youngest golf player (born in 1989) which won 5 major championships and she is ranked as the number one in the Women’s World Golf Rankings chart. She is currently living in Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in Orlando, Florida. With Yani Tseng talent even Tiger Woodswould look like amateur golf player.

The three-time major champion Maria Sharapova

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 23:33:00 -0700

Maria Sharapova’s slow start almost turned into an early exit at the U.S. Open.

The three-time major champion picked up her game in time to avoid an upset against 102nd-ranked Heather Watson, rallying for a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory Monday in the opening round.

After being thoroughly outplayed in the first set, third-seeded Sharapova let a 4-1 lead in the second slip, as well. She shored things up at 5-all in the second to pull out that set. She also led 4-1 in the third, but gave back a break. After that, Sharapova broke right back then served out her match against the 19-year-old Brit, who was making her first appearance in the main draw at Flushing Meadows.

Sharapova improved to 12-0 this year in third sets.

“In the end, that’s kind of where it counts,” she said after a match that lasted 2 hours, 34 minutes. “No matter how tired or whether you’re playing your best tennis or sometimes your worst, you keep fighting for it.”

Not showing the same kind of fight was fifth-seeded Petra Kvitova, who became the first reigning Wimbledon champion to lose in the first round of the U.S. Open. She made 52 unforced errors in a 7-6 (3), 6-3 loss to Alexandra Dulgheru and has won only two matches since hoisting the trophy at the All-England Club last month.

“After I made some mistakes, I was mentally down,” Kvitova said.

Last year’s U.S. Open and Wimbledon runner-up, second-seeded Vera Zvonareva, defeated Stephanie Foretz Gacon of France, 6-3, 6-0.

Other women’s winners included No. 13 Peng Shuai, No. 19 Julia Goerges and No. 27 Lucie Safarova.

But Sharapova-Watson was the best match of the afternoon.

With Watson nimbly covering a court that players say is playing slower than usual this year, Sharapova had to fight, and the match turned into a showdown of styles — the Russian’s punishing, aggressive baseline game vs. Watson’s grinding, retrieving relentlessness. The final stats were no surprise: Sharapova finished with 41 winners and 58 unforced errors, compared to nine winners and 30 unforced errors for her opponent.

“There’s no doubt that she’s a great up-and-coming player who showed some of her best tennis today,” Sharapova said. “She played really smart in the first. I was making too many errors. Consistency at the end helped me get through the match.”

The early headliner for the men was American Mardy Fish, who at No. 8 is the highest-ranked U.S. player in the tournament.

Fish lived up to his billing, opening his stay at Flushing Meadows with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 victory over Tobias Kamke of Germany.

Notable deaths

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 23:31:00 -0700

In August we said farewell to many noteworthy individuals, including a controversial reality show husband and a concentration camp survivor. Read on to learn more about them and the others who passed away this month.

Stetson Kennedy

1916-2011

A human rights activist, Stetson Kennedy is best known for infiltrating a well-known racist group and authoring a book about what he witnessed. Kennedy’s legacy is also left behind in the folklore group he founded.

Esther Gordy Edwards

1920-2011

Edwards transformed an old recording studio into a museum as a way of preserving the Motown sound. Edwards’ nickname says it all about how much she meant to the Motown music community.

Nick Ashford

1942-2011

With his wife, Nick Ashford wrote and produced several hit songs, including this Marvin Gaye hit. Ashford and his wife were also successful as performers themselves and had a hit with their song “Solid”.

Michael Showers

1966-2011

Known for his role in a hit HBO show and for his appearances in “Breaking Bad, ” “I Love You Phillip Morris” and a vampire TV show, Michael Showers’ untimely death shocked fans of his work.

Mike Flanagan

1951-2011

A star baseball player (what position?) for this team from the’ 70s through the early ’90s, Flanagan was known for his incredible talent (what prestigious award did he win?) as well as for his quick wit.

Jerry Leiber

1933-2011

With his songwriting partner, Jerry Leiber wrote many rock ”n’ roll hits, including “Stand by Me” and this classic Elvis Presley song. Leiber was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1985 and has his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Contestants on this TV show performed his songs for one episode.

Scotty Robertson

1930-2011

Throughout his life as an NBA coach, Robertson head-coached the New Orleans Jazz, the Chicago Bulls and the Detroit Pistons. He went on to be assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns, the Miami Heat, the Indiana Pacers and this Texas team.

Pete Pihos

1923-2011

A native of this holiday destination, Pihos was an All-American football player at this university. Pihos went on to play in the NFL for this team from 1947 to 1955. Pihos died from this degenerative disease, which was the focus of a documentary film produced by his daughter.

Russell Armstrong

1964-2011

Russell Armstrong was an investment banker and venture capitalist in this California city. He is known for being the estranged husband of a reality show cast member, and he appeared on the Bravo show several times.

Albert Brown

1905-2011

Albert Brown was the oldest survivor of the Bataan Death March. A former dentist, Brown and 78,000 other prisoners of war were forced to walk for dozens of miles a trek that killed more than 11,000. During the war, Brown also survived malaria, dengue fever and a broken neck.

Ernie Johnson

1924-2011

Ernie Johnson was a Major League Baseball player in the ’40s and ’50s. He played for the Boston Braves, the Milwaukee Braves and the Baltimore Orioles. Johnson later became a commentator for the Atlanta Braves, working with his son.

Zachery Tims

1969-2011

A co-pastor of this church and a televangelist commonly appearing on this TV program, Zachery Tims died nearly four years after he publicly asked for forgiveness for his extramarital affairs.

Jani Lane

1964-2011

The lead singer of -glam band Warrant, Jani Lane wrote six top 40 singles. Lane was also a cast member on this reality show.

Ray Anderson

1934-2011

Ray Anderson was a successful entrepreneur and the founder of Interface. He was also known as an outspoken advocate for industrial sustainability.

Mike Barrett

1943-2011

Mike Barrett was a basketball player for the 1968 U.S. Olympic basketball team. He also played professionally for this basketball organization.

Mark Hatfield

1922-2011

Mark Hatfield was a prominent politician in Oregon, serving 30 years as a U.S. senator and later elected Oregon’s secretary of state and then governor. Several Oregon buildings that have been named in his honor, including the Mark O. Hatfield Library at his alma mater university and the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse in this “Rose City.”

Charles Wyly

1933-2011

With his brother, Charles Wyly founded Michaels Stores. Wyly is also known for his large contributions to public art projects in this Texas town.

Hugh Carey

1919-2011

Hugh Carey was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 13 years before he was elected this state’s 51st governor. In addition to his work as a politician, Carey was an attorney who earned his law degree from this university.

Nancy Wake

1912-2011

A British agent during this war, Nancy Wake was a highly decorated servicewoman in the Allied forces and was given the United States Medal of Freedom as well as several other awards from Britain, Australia, France and her home country.

Ronaldo, who joined Manchester United

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 21:59:00 -0700

The 25-year-old departed for Real Madrid in a world record £80 million deal last summer after six seasons at Old Trafford, which yielded three Premier League titles, a Champions League crown and numerous other team and personal honours.

The move was long mooted, with Ronaldo’s desire to play in Spain and the astronomical transfer fee eventually seeing the forward switch to the Bernabeu.
Ronaldo, who joined Manchester United for £12.24m from Sporting Lisbon aged 18, has made a strong start to his Real career, scoring 11 times in 13 Primera Division appearances – including two goals in Saturday night’s win over Xerez – and six times in four Champions League appearances.
However, he may pull on a United shirt again.
“Of course I miss playing for Manchester United,” Ronaldo told the News of the World.

“I played there for six years and that’s a long time.
“I am still interested in watching Manchester United and, you never know, maybe in the future I could return to play there. It’s always possible.”
Ronaldo has a long-term contract at Real which he plans to honour, but he stressed his fondness for Sir Alex Ferguson, his former United team-mates and the Old Trafford club.
“I want to fulfil my contract here but, in the future, only God knows,” he added.
“I will not say I am not happy here at Real Madrid.
“I am really happy and everyone knows this is my club but, of course, I miss Manchester United, the boss, the players, because I left family there.”

Incredible Sports Teams Died Crashes

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 21:56:00 -0700

• Jan. 27, 2001 — Oklahoma State basketball players Dan Lawson and Nate Fleming, and six team staffers and broadcasters, in Byers, Colo.• Feb. 14, 2000– Tony Bettenhausen, Jr., race car driver/owner, near Lexington, Ky.
• Oct. 25, 1999 — Payne Stewart, winner of the 1989 PGA Championship and a two-time U.S. Open winner, two miles west of Mina, S.D.
• May 11, 1996 — Rodney Culver, San Diego Chargers running back, in Florida Everglades.
• April 18, 1996 — Brook Berringer, Nebraska quarterback, two days before the NFL draft, when the small plane he was piloting crashed in Raymond, Neb.
• July 13, 1993 — Davey Allison, NASCAR driver, the day after a helicopter he was piloting crashed on the infield at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Ala.
• April 28, 1993 — 18 players and five team officials of Zambia’s national soccer team in Libreville, Gabon.
• April 1, 1993 — Alan Kulwicki, NASCAR’s 1992 champion, in Blountville, Tenn.
• July 19, 1989 — Jay Ramsdell, CBA Commissioner, in Sioux City, Iowa.
• Sept. 30, 1988 — Al Holbert, six-time IMSA champion, near Columbus Ohio.
• Dec. 8, 1987 — 17 players of the Alianza Peruvian first-division soccer team in Lima, Peru.
• Aug. 16, 1987 — Nick Vanos, Phoenix Suns center, in Romulus, Mich.
• Nov. 25, 1985 — Six members of the Iowa State women’s cross country team in Des Moines, Iowa.
• Dec. 12, 1983 — Rex Dockery, Memphis State football coach, with offensive coordinator Chris Faros and defensive back Charles Greenhill, Lawrenceburg, Tenn.
• March 14, 1980 — 14 members of the U.S. amateur boxing team in Warsaw, Poland.
• Jan. 11, 1980 — Bo Rein, LSU football coach, in the Atlantic Ocean.
• Aug. 2, 1979 — Thurman Munson, New York Yankees catcher, in Canton, Ohio.
• Dec. 13, 1977 — 14 University of Evansville basketball players and coach Bobby Watson in Evansville, Ind.
• Nov. 29, 1975 — Graham Hill, race car driver, Hertfordshire, England
• June 24, 1975 — Wendell Ladner, New York Nets forward, in New York.
• Dec. 31, 1972 — Roberto Clemente, Pittsburgh Pirate outfielder, from San Juan, Puerto Rico en route to Nicaragua to aid earthquake victims.
• Oct. 11, 1972 — 30 members of a Uruguayan rugby club, in Chile.
• Nov. 14, 1970 — 36 Marshall University football players, in Huntington, W.Va.
• Oct. 2, 1970 — 14 Wichita State football players, in Colorado.
• Sept. 26, 1969 — 25 members of Bolivian soccer team “The Strongest”, in the Andes.
• Aug. 31, 1969 — Rocky Marciano, heavyweight boxing champion, Newton, Iowa
• April 28, 1968 — Six members of the Lamar Tech track team, in Beaumont, Texas.
• July 24, 1966 — Tony Lema, 1964 British Open champion, in Munster, Ind.
• Feb. 15, 1964 — Ken Hubbs, 22, Chicago Cub second baseman, in Utah.
• April 12, 1962 — Ron Flockhart, Scottish racing driver, in Melbourne.
• March 1, 1962 — Johnny Dieckman, world fly-casting champion, in Chicago.
• April 3, 1961 — Green Cross, a first-division Chilean soccer team, in the Las Lastimas Mountains.
• Feb. 16, 1961 — 18 members of the U.S. figure skating team, in Belgium.
• Oct. 10, 1960 — 16 members of the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo football team, in Toledo, Ohio.
• April 29, 1959 — Joaquin Blume, Spain’s European gymnastics champion, in Madrid.
• Oct. 30, 1958 — Philip Scrutton, British Walker Cup golfer.
• Aug. 14, 1958 — Six members of the Egyptian fencing team, in the Atlantic Ocean.
• Feb. 6, 1958 — Eight members of the English soccer champion Manchester United, in Munich.
• Nov. 27, 1956 — Charlie Peete, St. Louis Cardinal outfielder, in Venezuela.
• Sept. 20, 1956 — Tom Gastall, Baltimore Orioles catcher, in Maryland.
• Oct. 30, 1954 — Wilbur Shaw, President of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in Decatur, Ind.
• July 1, 1954 — John McBride, Alabama halfback, killed in ROTC training flight in Texas.
• Oct. 27, 1949 — Marcel Cerdan, former world middleweight champion, en route to fight Jake LaMotta in Spain.
• May 4, 1949 — 22 members of Torino, the Italian soccer champions, in Turin, Italy.
• March 31, 1931 — Knute Rockne, Notre Dame football coach, in Kansas
• Oct. 18, 1925 — Marvin Goodwin, Cincinnati Reds pitcher, in Houston.

Terrell Owens gets contract offer from WR-needy Chicago team

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 9 Mar 2012 21:49:00 -0800

Not that one. Or that one. This one.

So, maybe no NFL teams showed up to watch Terrell Owens work out on Tuesday. Owens still maintained confidence that some team would be interested in his services, and as it turns out, he was right. It just might not be the team he had in mind.
It’s the Chicago Rush of the Arena Football League. They want to bring T.O. into the 50-yard indoor war.
“We feel that this is an ideal time to approach the future NFL Hall of Famer,” said Rush General Manager and President Gene Nudo. “It would be a fantastic honor to add Terrell to our current roster for the 2012 season.”
It’s a bold move by Nudo, who I believe used to be known in the WWE as “Paul Bearer.” Here’s a later paragraph from the same news article that in no way makes this look like an empty publicity stunt.
In honor of this contract offer the Chicago Rush is offering an $81 Flex Plan to its loyal fans. The plan includes four tickets to a Chicago Rush home game. Additionally, the package includes four Rush hats as well as four Rush Nike Dri-Fit training shirts to ensure Rush fans will never have to work out shirtless again.
Probably not a reference to this. It’s probably motivated purely by football, and not by any media attention Owens is receiving right now, despite the fact that the Arena Football League doesn’t play a game until March. Let’s hear from the coach.
“Terrell would absolutely complement our current wide receiving corps,” said Rush Head Coach Bob McMillen. “His animation and over-the-top energy would be an excellent addition in the locker room, and the Chicago fans would undoubtedly welcome him here in Chicago.”
If you’re wondering about the rest of that wide receiving corps, it includes Reggie Gray, Vic Hall(notes), Charles Dillon(notes) and Brandon Fields(notes). I have no idea who any of those fellows are, but I’m sure their styles of play would complement T.O.’s very well.