Sports Articles

2009-06-29 | Jim Murphy

Floyd Mayweather, Jr’s return to the ring against tough Juan Manuel Marquez has been rescheduled for September 19th at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Arena. The fight was originally slated for July, but that date had to be postponed after Mayweather injured his ribs in training. The new date should also boost the box office for the event, as it will fall on the weekend immediately after Mexican Independence Day (September 16th).

2009-06-29 | Jim Murphy

Real Madrid’s acquisition of Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United, first reported earlier this month, is now a done deal. The formal agreement will be entered into on July 1st, and Ronaldo will be introduced to Madrid fans on July 6th with accompanying media hoopla. While there are reportedly a number of other high priced transfers in the works, Ronaldo’s 80 million pound transfer fee ($112 million US) is for the moment at least a record.

2009-06-29 | Jim Murphy

Joey Logano had some big shoes to fill in his rookie season as a driver in NASCAR’s top level Sprint Cup series. He had been tabbed by Joe Gibbs racing to replace Tony Stewart, who had left to form his own team. Logano has a ways to go before he’s in the same class as Stewart, but he’s off to a good start—on Sunday he became the youngest driver in NASCAR history to win a Sprint Cup series event as he took the checkered flag in a rain shortened race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

2009-06-29 | Jim Murphy

Bobby Lashley continued to progress on the road to MMA stardom by destroying Japanese pop culture icon Bob ‘The Beast’ Sapp in under four one sided minutes of the first round. The Lashley/Sapp bout was the main event attraction of ‘Ultimate Chaos’ held Saturday night in Biloxi, Mississippi.

2009-06-26 | Jim Murphy

The Orlando Magic didn’t make quite as big of a splash on the trade market as Cleveland did a day earlier with the acquisition of Shaquille O’Neal, but they didn’t stand pat either. On Thursday, Orlando shipped guards Rafer Alston, Courtney Lee and center Tony Battie to New Jersey in exchange for eight time all star shooting guard Vince Carter and power forward Ryan Anderson.

2009-06-26 | Jim Murphy

While the Arena Football League has all but shut down with its future very much in doubt, the smaller AF2 league continues to flourish. Originally created as something of a developmental league, thanks to franchises in smaller markets with fewer entertainment options, a more realistic salary structure and a sound business model AF2 may be soon find itself in the strange position of having outlived it’s ‘major league’ counterpart. The league made another step toward establishing its own identity on Wednesday when it was announced that their 2009 championship game would be held in Las Vegas.

2009-06-25 | Jim Murphy

LSU broke open a close game with Texas in the sixth inning and went on to rout the Longhorns 11-4 on Wednesday night, earning the Bayou Bengals their sixth College World Series championship. They’re now tied with Texas for 2nd on the all time victory list at six, though are well behind first place Southern California with twelve all time victories.

2009-06-25 | Jim Murphy

In what will likely be the biggest blockbuster transaction of the NBA offseason, the Cleveland Cavaliers have acquired future Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal. The Cavs sent Ben Wallace, Sasha Pavlovic, a 2nd round draft choice in 2010 and cash to the Suns in return for ‘The Diesel’. Shaq has won four NBA championships—three with Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles and one with Dwayne Wade in Miami. Cleveland his hoping that he’ll get #5 with reigning MVP LeBron James.

2009-06-23 | Jim Murphy

Financially troubled Setanta Sports has lost one of its biggest programming resources, as the English Premier League and Scottish Premier League soccer organizations both dropped the network on Monday. Setanta missed a scheduled payment to the EPL, and as a result had their contract terminated by the league. Almost immediately afterwards, the league announced that they had completed a deal with ESPN to become to primary broadcast outlet for their games.

2009-06-23 | Jim Murphy

Even if you don’t understand Spanish, Bellator’s weekly shows on ESPN Deportes have been can’t miss events. While their larger mission of growing the sport’s popularity within the Spanish speaking demographic is a long term goal, the promotion has been very successful in delivering great MMA action week after week. They’ve been helped along the way by some highlight reel finishes and a couple of fight of the year candidates, and they’ve got a good chance to keep building on their momentum in the second season and solidify their status as a promotion on the rise.

2009-06-22 | Jim Murphy

When the UFC announced Clay Guida vs. Diego Sanchez as the main event of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ finale MMA cognoscenti quickly pegged it as a potential fight of the year. On Saturday night, with these already lofty expectations the two UFC lightweight contenders delivered. Boy, did they delver—Diego Sanchez used his superior technical striking skill to earn a split decision victory over the tough, courageous and borderline inhuman challenge of Clay Guida in a fight that must be seen to be believed.

2009-06-22 | Jim Murphy

US President Barack Obama has accepted an invitation from FIFA head Sepp Blatter to attend the opening ceremonies for the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament. Obama will be the first US President to attend the opening ceremonies for a World Cup not hosted on US soil. The 2010 World Cup gets underway in South Africa next June.

2009-06-19 | Jim Murphy

The general idea of interleague baseball is that the games are supposed to be competitive affairs designed to highlight the parity between the AL and NL. When the San Diego Padres are involved, however, that’s simply not the case. The Seattle Mariners defeated the Padres 4-3 at Petco Park on Wednesday night, San Diego’s 13th straight loss against American League teams. That’s a MLB record for interleague futility, and the Padres owe most of that to the Mariners—San Diego has lost 10 straight at home to Seattle and 16 of 20 meetings between the teams overall.

2009-06-19 | Jim Murphy

In what they hope isn’t a preview of next year’s World Cup tournament, the United States soccer team was routed by Brazil 3-0 early Thursday in the opening round of the Confederations Cup in South Africa. It was the second straight dismal setback for the US footballers, having lost to Italy 3-1 on Monday. The Americans are now facing an uphill battle to advance, needing Egypt to beat Italy later in the day and winning against the Egyptians on Saturday.

2009-06-19 | Jim Murphy

The Washington Nationals haven’t had much success on the road this year, but on Thursday they found some good fortune in a most unlikely venue—New York’s Yankee Stadium. The Nats’ Craig Stammen earned his first major league victory with 6 1/3 innings of shutout work, and Washington blanked the Yankees 3-0. Coupled with a 3-2 win on Wednesday, the Nationals took two out of three from the Bronx Bombers for a rare away series win. The Nats are a lowly 8-24 on the road this season and, frankly, haven’t done much better at home where they’re 10-22.

2009-06-19 | Jim Murphy

The San Diego Padres’ disastrous run against the Seattle Mariners—and the rest of the American League—is now over. Kevin Kouzmanoff‘s walkoff single scored Adrian Gonzalez in the bottom of the 10th inning, as the Padres nipped the M’s 4-3 at Petco Park. Gonazlez had tied the game in the sixth inning with a solo home run, while Seattle’s Franklin Gutierrez hit two round trippers in the losing cause.

2009-06-17 | Jim Murphy

The NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes won’t be moving to Hamilton, Ontario—at least not right now. On Monday, a Federal Bankruptcy Court judge rejected the immediate sale of the team to Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie. The ultimate fate of the team remains up in the air, however, as the ruling simply rejected a June 29th deadline imposed by Balsillie to close the deal.

2009-06-17 | Jim Murphy

Real Madrid made headlines in recent weeks with two record breaking transfer acquisitions of Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo. And while they made clear that they weren’t finished with their ‘shopping spree’, it seems that other teams might be taking media claims that they have a ‘blank check’ to acquire too literally. As of Monday, negotiations to acquire Valencia striker David Villa and Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery have bogged down. The reason? Both teams want more for these players that Madrid feels they’re worth.

2009-06-17 | Jim Murphy

The Colorado Rockies saw their eleven game winning streak come to an end on Tuesday, losing in emphatic fashion to the Tampa Bay Rays by a lopsided 12-4 score. Tampa Bay hit five home runs and slammed a franchise record 11 extra base hits in the victory, running their own winning streak to six games.

2009-06-17 | Jim Murphy

Chicago joined three other cities on Wednesday morning in presenting their case for hosting the 2016 to the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne, Switzerland. In the past, cities bidding for the right to host the Olympic Games would host IOC delegates but that practice was abandoned after a number of improprieties surfaced around Salt Lake City’s successful 2002 Winter Olympics bid. Instead, the finalists now travel to IOC headquarters and make a pitch to the assembled delegates.

2009-06-15 | Jim Murphy

The Detroit Red Wings acted as if their second consecutive NHL championship was something of an afterthought, with game 7 on their home ice at the Joe Louis Arena. Their championship aspirations appeared even more certain after Pittsburgh Penguins’ captain Sidney Crosby left in the first period after suffering a knee injury on a hard hit by the Red Wings Johan Franzen. In the end, however, the Penguins got the last laugh as they stole game 7 2-1 and won their first Stanley Cup Championship since 1992.

2009-06-15 | Jim Murphy

Mitsuharu Misawa died in Hiroshima, Japan on Saturday night less than a week before his 47th birthday. He was in a tag team match for his Pro Wrestling NOAH promotion with Go Shiozaki against Bison Smith and Akitoshi Saito. Saito hit a back suplex on Misawa, which appeared to knock him unconscious. Medical staff attempted to revive him in the ring, but when CPR failed he was taken to a hospital by ambulance. Initial reports in the Japanese media suggest that he was pronounced dead at the hospital, but a number of eyewitness accounts have speculated that he may have died in the ring.

2009-06-15 | Jim Murphy

Dwight Howard boldly proclaimed before the start of the NBA Finals that no less than the Almighty himself would assure an Orlando Magic title victory. While matters of theology are well beyond the purview of this article, Howard could now be forgiven for thinking that God must be clad in purple and gold. The Los Angeles Lakers thumped Howard’s Magic in game five of the NBA Finals 99-86 to take the series 4-1 and win the 15th league championship in the franchise’s storied history. It was the Lakers’ first title victory in seven years, and served as validation that Kobe Bryant could win a crown without Shaquille O’Neal.

2009-06-15 | Jim Murphy

From a business standpoint, the UFC’s first trip to Germany will clearly fall short of their success in the UK. From poor ticket sales to a downright hostile German media, it’s been one headache after another for Dana White and company. On Saturday afternoon US time, however, that was all forgotten thanks to an entertaining if somewhat uneven fight card highlighted by a spectacular main event between Rich Franklin and Wanderlei Silva. Franklin would ultimately win the unanimous decision victory, but the fight itself far exceeded the expectations of most fans.

2009-06-12 | Jim Murphy

The Los Angeles Lakers overcame a twelve point halftime deficit to the Orlando Magic to force overtime, and then outscored their opponent 12-4 in the extra period for a 99-91 game four victory on Thursday night. The win gave the Lakers a 3-1 lead in the best of seven series and put them on the brink of winning the NBA championship. Game five under the NBA’s 2-3-2 finals format will be back at Orlando’s Amway Arena on Sunday night with the final two games, if necessary, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

2009-06-12 | Jim Murphy

Just a few days ago, Real Madrid signed Brazilian striker Kaka paying AC Milan a record transfer fee of just a bit more than $94 million US dollars. They’ve gone and broken that record, less than 72 hours later—on Friday morning the London Time reported that Real Madrid will sign Cristiano Ronaldo to a lucrative deal. To acquire the rights to Ronaldo, Madrid will reportedly pay Manchester United a cool 80 million pound transfer fee—which translates to a staggering $112 million US dollars.

2009-06-09 | Jim Murphy

Mike Brown successfully defended his WEC Featherweight title as he pummeled a gutsy Urijah Faber for four of five rounds to earn a unanimous decision victory in the main event of WEC 41. Faber suffered a broken right hand and an unspecified injury to his left hand during the first round, but fought gamely the rest of the way using every weapon at his disposal including Pancrase style open hand slaps and elbow strikes. It wasn’t enough, however, as the relentless Brown pummeled Faber but standing and on the ground after spotting him the first round to earn the 49-46, 49-46, 48-47 nod from the judges.

2009-06-09 | Jim Murphy

Spanish La Liga soccer powerhouse Real Madrid has announced the signing of Brazilian superstar Kaka, who played in the Italian Serie A league with AC Milan last season. Kaka signed a six year deal with the Spanish club who have opened up their wallets this year to finance the acquisition of star talent. Real Madrid paid AC Milan a transfer fee of 68 million Euros or just a bit over $94 million US dollars to acquire Kaka.

2009-06-08 | Jim Murphy

After four relatively tight games, the Detroit Red Wings returned home for game five and made a serious statement with a 5-0 rout of the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. Center Pavel Datsyuk returned to the Detroit lineup for the first time since he was sidelined by a foot injury on May 19th and contributed 2 assists, and the Wings used a four goal second period outburst to complete the blowout. Detroit now leads the best of seven series 3-2 and should be buoyed by the knowledge that three of the last four teams to win a game five went on to take the Cup.

2009-06-08 | Jim Murphy

During his prime pro wrestling legend Ric Flair would frequently boast “Like it or don’t like it but get used to it because it’s the best thing going today”. Maybe it’s time that Nick Diaz adopt the ‘Nature Boy’s’ classic catch phrase. The mercurial pride of Stockton, California made a compelling case for ‘pound for pound’ supremacy as he put on a striking clinic against tough Scott Smith before ending the fight in the third round via rear naked choke in the highlight match of Strikeforce’s card at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis on Saturday night.

2009-06-08 | Jim Murphy

The Orlando Magic played like a team that belonged in the NBA Finals on Sunday, but in the end all they had to show for their effort was a two game deficit to the Los Angeles Lakers. After being embarrassed in game one, Orlando played L.A. tough in game two forcing overtime before dropping a 101-96 verdict. The series now shifts to Orlando for the next three games under the NBA’s 2-3-2 finals format beginning on Tuesday night.

2009-06-08 | Jim Murphy

Tony Stewart became the first owner/driver to win a race on NASCAR’s top series in over a decade on Sunday as he came from the back of the field to take the checkered flag in the Pocono 500 at Pennsylvania’s Pocono Raceway. It had been a rollercoaster weekend for the NASCAR series leader—he was awarded the pole position for the race based on his first place spot in the standings on Friday after heavy rains washed out qualifying. He then crashed in the first practice on Saturday, totaling his car and having to go to a backup vehicle which also meant that he would have to start at the rear of the field under NASCAR rules.

2009-06-05 | Jim Murphy

Before the NBA Finals began, Orlando Magic superstar Dwight Howard was a highly visible media presence frequently referring to himself as ‘Superman’ and suggesting that a title victory for his team was divinely preordained. On Thursday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Kobe Bryant and the Lakers provided a sobering reality check as they dominated every phase of game one en route to a punishing 100-75 victory.

2009-06-05 | Jim Murphy

Marc-Andre Fleury turned in one of his best goaltending performances of the postseason on Thursday night as the Pittsburgh Penguins used a second period scoring outburst to defeat the Detroit Red Wings 4-2 on their home ice at Mellon Arena. The Stanley Cup Finals are now a best of three affair after the Penguins evened the seven game series at 2-2 with the victory.

2009-06-04 | Jim Murphy

The United States soccer team doesn’t enjoy their trips to Costa Rica. Wednesday night’s World Cup Qualifying game at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa in San Jose clearly illustrates why—Costa Rica scored a goal just :79 into the game and went on to clobber the USA 3-1. The US was fortunate to get on the board at all, needing a Landon Donovan penalty kick in stoppage time to avoid a shutout loss.

2009-06-04 | Jim Murphy

Tom Glavine has spent the early part of the 2009 MLB season trying to rehab from shoulder and elbow surgery with one goal—to end his Hall of Fame career with the Atlanta Braves. Glavine appeared to be on the verge of a return to the club after completing six scoreless innings in a rehab start for Class A Rome (GA). The Braves, however, had other ideas and in a surprising move released the 43 year old lefthander. Instead, the Braves called up prospect Tommy Hanson who will start on Saturday against Milwaukee.

2009-06-03 | Jim Murphy

The Pittsburgh Penguins are back in the hunt for the Stanley Cup after a game three home victory over the Detroit Red Wings. Maxime Talbot found the net twice, and Sergei Gonchar scored the game winning goal midway through the third period, giving the Penguins a 4-2 win that cut their series deficit to a more manageable 2-1. Game four will be back at Pittsburgh’s Mellon Arena on Thursday night.

2009-06-03 | Jim Murphy

The UFC has been maligned in the past year or two for their heavyweight division and to be sure there’s many top heavyweights not fighting for the promotion–the most significant being the undisputed best heavyweight MMA fighter on the planet, Fedor Emelianenko and the man considered by most to be #2, Josh Barnett. While the UFC might not have the best heavyweight fighter in the sport, they may soon have the most famous. Dana White announced on Tuesday that Kimbo Slice will be a contestant on season 10 of the UFC’s MMA reality show ‘The Ultimate Fighter’. A good performance there could see him get a shot at fighting for the promotion.

2009-06-02 | Jim Murphy

The Denver Nuggets never really knew what hit them. The last thing they remember is heading to Los Angeles for game 5 in a hard fought series tied at 2 games apiece. The Lakers won game five, but Denver was confident returning home for the next game. Before they knew it, their season was over. The Lakers jumped on the Nuggets from the opening whistle and never let up en route to a 119-92 victory that wasn’t even as close as the final score indicated. The Lakers now advance to the NBA Finals for the second straight year and for an NBA best 30th time in franchise history.

2009-06-02 | Jim Murphy

While it went completely unnoticed in the United States sports media, in Japan the biggest story of the past 48 hours has been the announcement by Satoshi Ishii that he’s finally signed a deal with the World Victory Road promotion to fight on their ‘Sengoku’ events. Ishii had announced his plans to become a professional MMA fighter some time ago, but until Sunday’s press conference in Tokyo had been fielding offers from both major Japanese promotions as well as the UFC.

2009-06-02 | Jim Murphy

Jimmie Johnson had the dominant car all day at Sunday’s NASCAR race at Dover, Delaware but needed a last lap charge to take the victory from Tony Stewart. Johnson led 298 laps on the race and appeared headed to an easy victory until a bad late race pit stop cost him the lead. Instead, he had to battle with Stewart and Greg Biffle for the final 36 laps before taking the checkered flag in a thrilling finish.

2009-06-02 | Jim Murphy

Both Tom Brady and the New England Patriots have experienced their ups and downs since the star QB suffered a season ending injury in the opening game of the 2008 NFL season. The Pats posted a decent 11-5 record with Matt Cassel under center as starting QB, but didn’t qualify for the playoffs. Brady, meanwhile, suffered through an early setback in his rehab due to infection which necessitated a second surgical procedure. All of that negativity is in the past, however, a fact confirmed by Brady’s doctor on Monday who spoke of his patient’s progress in rehab in terms that were just short of ‘miraculous’.

2009-06-01 | Jim Murphy

Another year of experience and maturity doesn’t seem to have done much for the Pittsburgh Penguins. In fact, based on the outcome of the first two games of the Stanley Cup Finals they’re exactly where they were one year ago—in a 0-2 hole heading home to Pittsburgh for game three. On Sunday, the Detroit Red Wings spotted the Penguins a first period goal before scoring the next three to take a 3-1 victory in game two on their home ice at the Joe Louis Arena. Detroit has now won 8 of their last 11 meetings with the Penguins which should give them added confidence as they prepare for game three on Thursday night.

2009-06-01 | Jim Murphy

Conspiracy theorists like to suggest that the NBA isn’t above manipulating results to get the outcomes they desire. From the New York Knicks winning the first draft lottery to select Patrick Ewing, to a perceived ‘east coast bias’ during the Chicago Bulls’ championship runs to a suggestion that the NBA “wanted” a Kobe vs. LeBron matchup in the finals those inclined to paranoia have found a way to rationalize many results as being simply due to the league’s efforts to ‘call the shots’. If, however, the league “wanted” a Kobe/LeBron final they clearly didn’t clue the Orlando Magic in on the ‘script’. On Saturday night in Orlando, Dwight Howard badly outplayed LeBron James and the Magic routed the Cavs 103-90 to advance to the NBA finals for the first time since 1995.