Baseball
Johan Santana made history with 17 strikeouts in 8 innings this weekend against the Texas Rangers. Got to love this time of year….it seems almost every week some baseball player is putting himself in the history books. Congrats Johan.

Watercooler Discussion: Which teams do you think will make the playoffs?

Tennis

Speaking of history books, Roger Federer just keeps getting better and better. At only 26 years old, he just won his 50th tournament title (5th youngest player ever to do this).

Watercooler Discussion: Is there anyone playing today that can rival Federer?

Soccer

Beckham seems to be on his way to earning his exorbitant salary. Saturday night at Giants stadium against the Red Bull New York, Beckham played a full 90 minutes and attracted a crowd of 66,237 people. Even though he didn’t play all that spectacularly (apparently he’s still getting used to artificial turf), he did manage to make some good plays and the game (by soccer standards) was unusually high scoring. With a total of 9 goals (5 for Red Bulls and 4 for the Galaxy), this game marks the first major league soccer match this year and the 10th in League history to record this number of goals.

Watercooler Discussion: Is Beckham changing how soccer is viewed in this country yet?

Football

Pre-season games are here and we can’t help but join the hype in who’s hot and who’s not (and I do mean their performance on the field and not who’s currently dating Paris Hilton). I’m loving the hype, but really more concerned right now with pre-season injuries. I can’t even watch my favorite players take the field in fear that they’ll twist their ankle (which happened a lot around the League this weekend) or worse. With that said, September 6th is the first game of the year and you can be sure I’ll be glued to the TV then!

Watercooler Discussion: Is the Pre-season too long? Does it unnecessarily create more injuries?

Golf   

The biggest news of the weekend (not that we’re too surprised) was Tiger Woods winning the 13^th Major Title of his career. (Golf has four professional majors.) Tiger might lose a tournament here or there just to prove his human, but he has never lost a Major when he’s been in the lead or shared the lead. This is one true sign of greatness. There are certainly other “great” golfers out there, but very few have the mental toughness of Tiger. Only Jack Nicklaus (with 18) has more Major Titles than Tiger.

Watercooler Discussion: Would you consider Tiger one of the greatest athletes of all time or just one of the greatest golfers?

Nascar   

Race car drivers and their fans are normally pretty well behaved…not like other sports (think hockey), but this weekend was a bit unusual. At Watkins Glen, NY, Juan Pablo Montoya and Kevin Harvick got into a huge fight toward the end of the race when another driver, Martin Truex Jr, hit Montoya who then hit Harvick sending both of them in a spin with 15 laps to go. Harvick thought Montoya hit him (not Truex) so he climbed out of his car and started up a fight. And then, oddly enough, a fan jumped the fence during this red flag delay and rushed over to Matt Kenseth with a hat and sharpie and asked for an autograph. By the way, Tony Stewart won the race (third win in four weeks) and is looking like he could be the one to beat when the Chase for the coveted Nextel Cup begins in five weeks. 

Watercooler Discussion: Should Drivers be fined for getting into fights during a race?

Football 

Did anyone see Pacman Jones’ wrestling debut. I saw a clip then read the story and am still confused. Pacman is suspended from his team, the Tennessee Titans, for the season for violating personal conduct rules including 6 arrests. The most recent of these arrests occurred in  February in Las Vegas where he is under indictment for coercion in a fight that caused the bouncer of the club to become paralyzed. Ok, so by all accounts, this man has some “issues”. Why then did he agree to go on a wrestling show when the Tennessee Titans got a court order prohibiting him from wrestling. Apparently he did not fight on screen but had policmen who were actors tackling him off stage.

Watercooler Discussion: Obviously the Pacman wrestling thing was some kind of publicity stunt, but is it just me or is this kind of a strange thing for someone who is already under a lot of scrutiny for being a “hoodlum”?

photo: Andrew Hood

Cycling

Not sure anyone even cares at this point, but Alberto Contador won the grueling Tour de France. He’s 24 years old and the youngest athlete to win in a decade. The problem is no one is talking about Contador. We’re all talking about how the leader, Michael Rasmusen who was disqualified due to suspicion of doping charges and lying about where he was during training. Last year the Tour Champion, Floyd Landis also tested positive for an illegal substance.

Watercooler discussion: Will the Tour de France ever regain its credibility or will the race and cycling in general suffer?

Football

The Falcons quarterback, Michael Vick continues to slide deeper and deeper into trouble (and now it’s financial). In case you haven’t been following, Michael Vick was indicted on charges that he participated in illegal dog fighting. Nike suspended his contract (which he’s had ever since he became the first draft pick in 2001), and Reebok pulled his jersey from the shelves in its stores.

Watercooler discussion: If you owned a Vick jersey, would you still wear it or burn it?

Baseball

The San Francisco Giants’ Barry Bonds is just one homerun away from tying Hank Aarons’ hallowed home run record and two away from breaking it. Bonds is generally unpopular due to suspicion of taking illegal substances during his career and because of his surly personality.

Watercooler discussion: Will Bonds break the record this week and do you care? 

You’ve got to love sports, every time it brings you down, something happens to cheer you up. After all the talk of the tainted Tour de France, the disgust over Michael Vick, the reluctant Bonds watch and the Donaghy referee scandal, we finally have something to cheer about. Two of the most revered baseball players were inducted in to the Hall of Fame, Cal Ripken Jr. (Baltimore Orioles) and Tony Gwynn (San Dieog Padres).

Michael Vick, star quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, has been indicted on dog fighting charges. He hasn’t been convicted yet, but he’s in real trouble. In case you didn’t know, dog fighting is illegal and really sick. I’ve never seen it (or ever will) but it’s incredibly inhumane and incredibly brutal. In addition, Vick is charged with killing a number of dogs that were unable to fight. And, he apparently killed them in a really disgusting manner; hanging, strangling, drowning and smashing on the floor. Whether or not Vick actually gets convicted of this illegal crime, his reputation is shot. I can’t imagine he will ever get another sponsorship deal. Who in their right mind would want someone like that endorsing their products? I’m sure we’ll be hearing more on this story as details come out, but as of now, I’m thoroughly disgusted and can’t imagine a person in their right mind who would torture dogs for sport.