While MLB heads for the final stretch and the NFL gets ready to kick off, many people have pushed the NBA to the back of their minds. While it might stay there, don't forget to give some love to the U.S.A. team that is competing in the 2010 FIBA World Championships.
While the "superstar" names aren't playing, there are still quite a few young stars that are competing. Headlining the team is Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant. Playing along side him include: Durant's OKC teammate Russell Westbrook, Chicago's Derrick Rose, and Memphis' Rudy Gay, among others.
U.S.A. is 2-0, tied atop their pool with Brazil. Their wins, both by double-digits, were over Croatia and Slovenia.
This post is probably not necessary because, as usual, we will probably dominate most teams and come away with the championship or gold medal, etc. Nevertheless, these guys deserve credit, and I'll come back with another update in a few days.
The past few days have been rather exciting in the United States of America. On Wednesday June 23, the United States faced a win or go home scenario against Algeria in the World Cup. It wasn't exactly a win-or-go-home scenario until England scored against Slovenia.
Regulation time had expired with the scored still tied at...nil-nil? (0-0 for us in the states) The USA's chances were beginning to look slimmer and slimmer, but Landon Donovan to the rescue! Less than one minute into the injury time, Donovan follows a pass he made up the field and the deflection off of the goalie went straight to him. Donovan put it right into the wide open goal and sprinted and dove on his stomach in ecstasy.
With the goal, the USA won their pool for the first time in over 70 years. They held the tiebreaker over England, who now will play powerhouse Germany in the knockout stage. We (the USA) will play Ghana, who held the tiebreaker over Australia and Serbia.
USA vs. Ghana - June 26 2:30 pm Germany vs. England - June 27 10:00 am
Even though this was an incredible victory for the USA and it came with almost no time left in the game, I think it was the second most amazing sporting event we were victorious in the past two days. This morning, (23-USA) John Isner finally defeated qualifying Frenchmen Nicolas Mahut in the first round of Wimbledon 2010.
The reason this is so incredible is because these two players took part in the longest match in professional tennis history. The three-day match was postponed Tuesday night after the fourth set due to darkness, and postponed again last night due to darkness when the players were tied at 59-59 in the fifth set. The 11 hour and five minute match concluded when Isner broke Mahut's serve to win 70-68.
The fifth set alone took over eight hours, which is long enough to break the record for the longest match ever. Both players had over 100 aces, breaking the previous record of 78 by a single player in a match.
Both players were also supposed to participate in doubles matches today. Isner missed his because he was still playing Mahut, but Mahut reportedly went to play his doubles match at the conclusion of the record-breaking one. Gosh only knows how he is still breathing, let alone playing another match in the same day.
Props to Isner for winning (go USA) and now he advances to the second round and will play tomorrow (four days in a row). Good luck to him the rest of the way.
Just so you guys know, I had a buddy of mine (TK) write this article because he is a huge soccer fan and is closely following the World Cup. I thought some of you might enjoy reading some soccer news from someone who knows the game. The following was written by him, and I thank him for it.
Hello… you play to TIE the game. Ok so they did not beat England, but as a USA fan, you should be happy walking away from the game with at least one point. England deserved to win outplaying the Americans especially in the second half. The game was a tale of two goal keepers. One was remarkable, making his World Cup debut, (and just happens to be from the same great state as Tony Soprano and Bruce Springsteen) while the other was as dreadful as watching Celebrity Rehab. Tim Howard led the Red White and Blue with six crucial saves while playing with injured ribs. The Brits Robert Green on the other hand as I am sure you have seen, will most likely receive a lifetime V.I.P. pass into Sports Center’s “Not Top Ten” segment. The goal he allowed to Clint Dempsey was pathetic. England is a world class team yet their goalie proved otherwise. Better to be lucky than good sure explains the USA game against England.
Slovenia and Algeria are the next two opponents on tap for USA with both being winnable games. No disrespect to either club, but results of a tie or loss would be considered a vast disappointment. Look for the 20 year old striker Jozy Altidore to get his name in the scoring column with Landon Donovan continuing to impress providing speed out of the midfield. There is no reason why the USA should not be able to get out of their group. After that, it is anybody’s guess as to how far they will go, but I am expecting a trip to the quarterfinals. The one thing that remains a question mark for this team though is their defense. A positive you can take out of their last game is that after giving up a quick goal, the U.S. was able to shutout 3rd ranked England for the remaining 85 minutes of action. If the Americans are to advance in the World Cup, it will be on the shoulders or rather ribs of Tim Howard who without a doubt is one of the best goalies in the world.
Today I worked outside, in the 90+ degree heat...and the NBA Finals are on tonight? It has never made sense to me why basketball is still being played in the summer, but I don't make the rules.
The Lakers and Celtics have alternated wins so far this series, L.A. winning games one and three and Boston taking two and four. The series stays in Boston for game five (currently in progress: L.A. - 22 Boston - 30 Q2), and then heads back to Los Angeles for the final two games.
This has been a fairly heated series between the NBA's two most historic franchises; however, the smallest margin of victory for either team has been seven. That is definitely surprising if you ask me. Many people thought the series was definitely in Boston's favor once they took a game in L.A., but the Lakers answered right back winning the first game in Boston.
I think game five is a must win for Boston because even though they already won one game in L.A. I don't think they can.
*Ron Artest just kind of hard foul on KG. Rondo nudged Artest who then flopped onto the ground to draw a technical foul. Smart play by Artest even though he looked stupid flopping. The announcers said it best, "That's a 112-pound guy (Rondo) putting his hand on a 280-pound guy (Artest)...he couldn't even pick him up if he tried!"
You've got to love that. L.A. battled back to take a one point lead, but then Pierce hit a three followed by a tip in by Gasol (he was fighting for a board and tipped it in for Boston) to give the Celtics a 41-37 lead with 2:42 left in the second.
This is just a quick shoutout to my boys from the U.S.A. who are fighting in South Africa in the FIFA World Cup. I'm not a soccer fan by any means, but I will always root for the the U.S. no matter the "sport".
World Cup: U.S.A. vs. Slovenia Friday 9:30 am
NBA Finals: Boston @ L.A. Tuesday 9:00 pm
**Game seven: Boston @ L.A. Thursday Thursday 9:00 pm
Canada's goal, as the home town team, was to walk away with 40 medals...at least 10 gold. Well, the the U.S.A. was the closest to the 40, but Canada smashed the gold medal mark with 14 of them.
This is going to be a new once a week segment that will involve anyone in any "sport" that is performing extremely well or horribly. You might recognize it from the segment I had during the NFL season.
Week 1:
The Down
Gilbert Arenas (WAS) - N/A
Arenas' gun show has put him out of commission recently so even though it has nothing to do with the past week, he stupidity will live on for the entire season. He needs to leave a few things: 1) He was a highly touted ball player and kids looked up to him 2) He is always in the spot light and needs to control himself 3) He should know better than to do something like that thinking he won't get caught or is above the law. Moron... The Dirty
Jarome Iginla (CAN) - 5 Goals 2 Assists
Iginla had a monster first game of the Olympics and didn't cool off there. He had the game winning assist in the gold medal game against the U.S. He had a sensational tournament and played well in every game. He easily gets my vote this week and congrats to Canada for winning the gold...unfortunately...good shot Crosby...
On a side note: The U.S. did not "win" the silver medal, they lost the gold and were given the silver as a consolation. That is just clarification for people saying earlier today that we won the silver...
Tension is thick as we head into the gold medal game, Canada vs. USA. This should be a very good game with both teams being lead by strong goalie play, Ryan Miller for USA and Roberto Luongo for Canada. In their previous match up USA took the victory 5-3, the loss cost Canada's goalie his starting job. Even though Marty Brodeur is considered by many to be one of, if not the best goalie of all time,Luongo is a very capable goalie. Not to mention he has won both starts since taking over. This time it is winner take all, and with both teams having strong goalies and powerful offenses, this will be one to watch.
Will Canada be able to take the gold in both men's and women's hockey or will we be able to avenge the women's loss?
Hey everyone, this is an Olympic special just to give you a medal count update. There is about a week left and the U.S. currently holds a commanding six medal lead over Germany.
U.S.A. 24
Germany 18
Norway 12
Canada 9
Korea 9
There will be a final report once the games are over and we will show the final medal count.
While the "superstar" names aren't playing, there are still quite a few young stars that are competing. Headlining the team is Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant. Playing along side him include: Durant's OKC teammate Russell Westbrook, Chicago's Derrick Rose, and Memphis' Rudy Gay, among others.
