Archive for July, 2017

Williams Loses In Final, Federer Keeps Dominating, Ball Out With Tight Calves

TENNIS

As the oldest Wimbledon finalist since Martina Navratilova in 1994, Venus Williams fell in the Championship match to Garbine Muguruza. Ranked #15, Muguruza beat Venus 7-5, 6-0.

In the men’s final, Roger Federer continued his dominance by winning his 8th Wimbledon final. At 35 years old, Federer keeps adding to the record books.  Unfortunately for fans, his Wimbledon final was uneventful against Marin Cilic with a 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 victory. Cilic claimed to have a blister, and at one point Cilic broke down in tears knowing he couldn’t play his best against the best. He now has 19 Grand Slam titles under his belt and will try for his 20th in New York during the US Open which begins August 28th.

BASKETBALL

The LA Lakers Lonzo Ball has been turning in solid performances during the NBA Summer League, but now has the team and his fans concerned as he walked off the court in the 3rd quarter of the Laker’s semi-final match against the Dallas Mavericks. The injury appears to be “tight calves”, but the Lakers certainly don’t want an injury to the most hyped player of recent memory.

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Venus Williams In 9th Championship On Saturday, Tebow Hits Walk-Off Homer, Brown Skating To Hamilton

TENNIS

At 37 years old, Venus Williams advances to Women’s Wimbledon final. Saturday’s match will be her 9th Championship match at Wimbledon.  If Venus wins on Saturday, she will become the oldest woman to win a grand slam. One of her biggest competitors has always been her sister Serena, but Serena is sidelined right now due to her pregnancy.

BASEBALL

Former Denver QB Tim Tebow is continuing to thrive in the NY Mets’ Class A affiliate in St. Lucie. On Thursday night, he continued his streak of 11 straight hits with a walk off homer to win the game. He hasn’t seemed to slow down since getting promoted to the Class A League, and the fans are loving it!

OLYMPICS

It’s still a bit too early to start talking about the Winter Olympics (February 2018), but for all the Lin-Manuel Miranda fans, skater Jason Brown, announced he will perform his short program to the Hamilton song “Room where it happens”. Brown still needs to make the U.S Team, but Lin-Manuel responded to the announcement via twitter with a heart emoji!

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ESPY’s, Lonzo Best Game In Nikes

ESPY’S

Peyton Manning hosted the 2017 ESPY’s (the annual sports awards show) handing out awards to Russell Westbrook for best male athlete, Kevin Durant for best championship performance, the Golden State Warriors for best team, Simone Biles for best female athlete after her 4 gold medals, and the Chicago Cubs (for best moment) by winning the World Series after 108 years. For the full list of winners, click here. Peyton Manning hosted the show, and in the opening took some barbs against Kevin Durant, joking he should join the women’s winning gymnast team because they’re so dominant. KD did not look pleased!

BASKETBALL

The Lakers’ Lonzo Ball had his best game of the summer league. Against the Philadelphia 76ers, Lonzo electrified the crowd (including LeBron James) by posting 36 points, 11 assists, and 8 rebounds and 5 steals. Lonzo noticeably wore Nikes instead of his $495 Big Baller Brand shoes.

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Robinson Cano Gives AL Win, Jeter & Jordan Bid For Marlins, Paris & LA Olympics

BASEBALL

The American League won out in a boring All-Star Game Tuesday night.  In the 10th inning, the Seattle Mariners Robinson Cano homered to give the American League its 5th consecutive win. The All-Star game no longer determines home-field advantage for either the American League or National League during the World Series, but the players on the winning team Tuesday night did get a bonus of $20,000.

Derek Jeter and his group of investors are rumored to be in the lead for buying the Miami Marlins. It’s now been reported Michael Jordan is part of Jeter’s group. In addition to raising the $1.2 billion expected to buy the franchise, Jordan brings in extra star power and sports management.

OLYMPICS

The International Olympic Committee appears on its way to awarding the 2024 and 2028 Olympics to Los Angeles and Paris. It’s still undetermined which city will host which year, but according to reports, the IOC thought both proposals were strong enough to grant each a bid. The United States hasn’t hosted an Olympics since 2002 and Paris hasn’t hosted since 1924.

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Muller Ousts Nadal After Marathon Match, MLB All-Star Game, Judge Easily Wins HomeRun Derby

TENNIS

After a grueling 4 hours and 48 minutes, #16 in the world, Gilles Muller ousted #4 Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon on Monday to reach the quarterfinals. #1 Andy Murray and #3 Roger Federer also advanced to the quarters. In the women’s bracket, #1 seed Angelique Kerber lost while #10th seed Venus Williams moved ahead to the quarterfinals.

BASEBALL

The starting lineup for Tuesday night’s All-Star game was announced, but the most anticipated event during the mid-season break was Monday’s home-run derby. All eyes were on Yankees’ rookie Aaron Judge, who did not disappoint. Judge leads the league with 30 homers so far this season, and with a head to head battle against eight players, Judge blasted the field and easily won his final round with extra time to spare. Fans are clearly excited by this rookie as evidenced by his signed baseball card selling on eBay for $14,000.

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Rockets Sign Harden To Largest NBA Contract, Lonzo Ball’s Debut, Fultz Sprained Ankle

BASKETBALL

The Houston Rockets signed James Harden to the largest contract in NBA history. After Harden made the NBA All-Star Team, he was eligible for a designated player extension which combined with his $118 million extension signed last July, boosts him to a $228 million contract until the end of his contract in 2022.

The Los Angeles Lakers Lonzo Ball (#2 pick in the draft) had a rough start to his NBA Summer League debut going only 2 of 15 shooting against the Los Angeles Clippers. He came back strong, however, the next night with his first triple double in the pros. Not surprisingly, Ball is bringing the fans out with over 17,000 tickets sold for Saturday night’s game. He’s even wearing his Big Baller Brand shoes.

In other summer league news, the Philadelphia 76ers #1 pick Markelle Fultz suffered a sprained ankle Saturday night in a matchup with the Golden State Warriors. He will miss the rest of Summer League, but is expected to be back to normal activities in 1-2 weeks.

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Tom Brady’s New Book For Better Life, Rudy Gay To Spurs, Hardaway To Knicks, Carter A King

FOOTBALL

New England Patriots’ QB Tom Brady will add to his list of accomplishments by releasing another book (his first book was a cookbook). His new book focuses on ways for readers to enhance their productivity and performance by following his methods.  Brady tweeted, the book is “the culmination of what I have been working on for the past 12 years of my career – something that I know can benefit ALL people regardless of age, athletic level, or stage of life.  I know the methods in this book can be a blueprint to better understanding how to maintain peak mental and physical fitness for the rest of your life.  The TB12 Method: How to Achieve a Lifetime of Sustained Peak Performance, will be released in September.

BASKETBALL

In a free agency update, Rudy Gay will head to the San Antonio Spurs after spending three years on the Sacramento Kings.

Tim Hardaway Jr. signed a surprising 4 year $71 million dollar offer sheet from the New York Knicks. The Atlanta Hawks can match the offer by Saturday night, but according to those in the know, Hardaway will likely be a Knick next season.

The oldest player in the NBA, Vince Carter, will leave Memphis and join the Sacramento Kings for a one-year $8 million dollar deal.

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Swaggy P To Warriors, Unsportsmanlike Fines At Wimbledon

BASKETBALL

In more free agency moves, Nick Young (also known as “Swaggy P”), who played for the Lakers for 4 years, will head to the Golden State Warriors in a one year deal worth $5.2 million. The reason the Warriors can afford to grab players like Young (and Casspi) is partly due to MVP Kevin Durant taking a less money on his 2 year contract with the team. Durant celebrated the signing by posting a now iconic image of Young prematurely celebrating a missed 3-pointer. If you’re wondering how Young got the nickname Swaggy P, he explained it came to him in a dream. “God, in a dream, talked to me, and he gave me that name. I’m like, ‘you know what God? That is a funny name! I might need to run with it!’ And ever since then, I’ve been calling myself Swaggy P. It’s a household name.”

TENNIS

Not only did the Australian Bernard Tomic Wimbledon lose in his first round at Wimbledon, but he also got fined $15,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct during his news conference after the match. He announced he felt “a little bit bored out there and he “just couldn’t find any motivation” to compete while also saying he called a medical timeout to try get his momentum back. #47 in the world, Daniil Medvedev was also fined for unsportsmanlike conduct when he threw coins at the umpire after his loss in the second round. He denies he was implying the umpired was biased, but at Wimbledon athletes are usually more respectful.

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Gordon Hayward Going To Celtics, Casspi Deal With Warriors, Joey Chestnut Wins Again, Kaepernick In Ghana

BASKETBALL

The big holiday weekend free agency move goes to the Boston Celtics who stepped up to sign Gordon Hayward from the Utah Jazz. Instead of lobbying for more money for himself, the Celtics’ Isaiah Thomas (who’s salary dropped to $6.3 mill this season) reportedly urged his team to use the extra cash to bring in a superstar who could help them win a championship. Hayward is the first star player from a Western conference team to move to the Eastern conference. Jazz fans are not happy with the move and have created the buzzword #Betrayward on social media showing the fans burning Hayward jerseys.

In other free agency moves, free-agent Omri Casspi signed a one-year deal with the Golden State Warriors for $2.1 million.

HOT DOG EATING

Joey Chestnut won his 10th July 4th hot dog eating contest at Coney Island. He set a record by consuming 72 dogs in 10 minutes which is an estimated 20, 160 calories and 1, 296 grams of fat.

FOOTBALL

San Francisco General Manager John Lynch is urging his former quarterback Colin Kaepernick to repair his image and convince teams he’s ready to play football. Lynch said, ‘I think you are having a little bit of an image crisis in terms of, not so much what you did last year, but people are wondering: Is this most important to you?’ At a position where the guys who succeed at the position are the guys who live it, breathe it, the CEOs at that position. And I think there is a perception that football is not at the top of the list.” Kaepernick is currently unsigned but doesn’t seem panicked as he’s in Ghana visiting his roots where he tweeted, “How can we truly celebrate independence on a day that intentionally robbed our ancestors of theirs? To find my independence I went home.”

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NBA Free Agency Agreements, MLB All-Star Game For Pride And Money

BASKETBALL

NBA’s free agency period kicked off and many athletes are either packing bags or settling in.  The deals can’t formally be signed until July 6th, but these are some of the agreements floating around:

Steph Curry agreed on what amounts to the richest deal in NBA history:  5 years, $201 million. The Warriors also shelled out money to keep Andre Iguodala with a 3 year $48 mill and Shaun Livingston at 3 years $24 million.

Blake Griffin also cashed in with a deal to stay with the Los Angeles Clippers for a 5 year $175 million, while the Toronto Raptors re-signed Kyle Lowry for $100 million over 3 years and Serge Ibaka for 3 years $65 mill.

Coming off of their #1 draft pick in Markelle Fultz, the Philadelphia 76ers showed their commitment to the team by coughing up a large chunk of money to re-sign J.J. Redick for 1 year $23 million.

Paul Millsap will be packing his bags and leaving Atlanta to join Denver in a 3 year $90 million dollar agreement.

BASEBALL

The players selected for the Major League Baseball All-Star game will not be playing for home-field advantage in the World Series this year, but instead will be playing for cash. For the first time in 15 years, it won’t matter whether the American League or National League win the game. For the players, however, there is still honor in being selected as well as pride (and a bonus of $20,000) for winning. For complete rosters, click here.

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