Archive for July 9th, 2012

WATERCOOLER CHAT: FEDERER WINS 7TH WIMBLEDON TITLE, FUTURES GAME, TEIXEIRA HELP YANKS, NBA OFF SEASON NEWS

TENNIS

Roger Federer is back to being the number one ranked player in the world. Rafael Nadal, Federer’s toughest rival, exited the tournament very early in an upset and Novak Djokovic, his other big rival, lost to Federer in the semifinals of Wimbledon. Djokovic lost his number one world ranking as Federer won his 17th Grand Slam Title. He defeated Andy Murray 4-6,7-5,6-3,6-4, on Sunday to equal Pete Sampras’ seven Wimbledon record titles. The 30 year-old Federer is now 17-7 in Grand Slam Finals, with seven of those wins coming at Wimbledon at the All England Club.

 BASEBALL

In Major League Baseball the home of the All Star game, Kansas City, was home to the Futures Game. The top minor league talent and prospects come out to play a showcase for fans. The highlights of the game included the games MVP, Detroit prospect Nick Castellanos, who had a three-run home run and Kansas City’s own Wil Myers adding three RBIs. And if you blinked, you missed Reds’ prospect Billy Hamilton tripling in runs. Hamilton right now is on pace for history with 104 stolen bases in just 82 games.

And as exciting as the game was, while the Futures Game was being played, the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, still had some business to take care of before heading into the All Start Break. Before the game, Red Sox pitcher, Vicente Padilla said, “In this sport, as competitive ball players, we get pretty fired up. So I think, maybe, [Mark Teixeira] picked the wrong profession. I think he’d be better off playing a women’s sport.” This was in response to Padilla accusing Teixeira of prejudice against Latin ballplayers.  Teixeira ended up laughing off the comments, but seemed to help the Yankees destroy the Red Sox 7-3. In the very first inning, Teixeira doubled in two RBI to put the Yankees up, and they never looked back. The Yankees young starter, Ivan Nova, pitched well Sunday, by striking out 10 and allowing just one earned run over six innings.

 BASKETBALL

In the NBA, the crazy offseason continues. Ray Allen, a pretty good player in his own right, is getting older, so it doesn’t look like he’s chasing money, but rather championships. Allen has left the Boston Celtics to join the Miami Heat.  Allen makes the Heat even scarier and deeper of a team. Allen, a three-point assassin over the past two years has shot over 44 percent from behind the arc. Allen took half as much money as he would have from another team.

In other news, the New Orleans Hornets added former Magic forward Ryan Anderson in a sign-and trade-deal. Anderson looks to make around 35 million dollars over the next four years. And it appears, the Dwight Howard drama will continue. New reports are surfacing that the Cleveland Cavaliers may be a third team in a deal that could help Brooklyn land Howard.

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