Sports Articles

2010-03-31 | Jim Murphy

Manchester United scored just two minutes into their Champions League quarterfinal game with German side Bayern Munich, but were dominated the rest of the way. Things really fell apart for the English Premier League leaders as the game drew to a close. Munich tied the game at the 76 minute mark, and then nailed the winning goal in injury time as Man U’s superstar striker Wayne Rooney lay injured on the field. The 2-1 victory gives Bayern Munich a margin for error as the series shifts to Old Trafford for the second leg next week.

2010-03-29 | Jim Murphy

Despite a late race flat tire that necessitated an unplanned pit stop, Denny Hamlin raced like a madman down the stretch and took the checkered flag at Monday’s Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 NASCAR race at West Virginia’s Martinsville Speedway. The race had been originally scheduled for Sunday, but was moved to Monday due to torrential rains. It was Hamlin’s third career victory on the oldest track on the NASCAR circuit.

2010-03-29 | Jim Murphy

UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre once again demonstrated why he’s considered by many to be the best ‘pound for pound’ fighter in the sport on Saturday night as he dominated tough Brit Dan Hardy wire to wire to earn a lopsided unanimous decision victory in the main event of UFC 111. A powerful striker known for his wild Mohawk haircut and cocky attitude, Hardy spent most of the fight on his back or in painful submission holds which he somehow survived to go the distance. It was GSP’s fourth defense of his title, with each one more impressive than the last.

2010-03-29 | Jim Murphy

In the classic Paul Newman hockey film ‘Slap Shot’, the fictional Charlestown Chiefs struggle to keep their team afloat in a dying ‘Rust Belt’ city. Newman’s character, Reggie Dunlop, starts a rumor that the team is moving to Florida to motivate his players. At the end of the film, however, the owner folds the Chiefs as a tax write off. Now the real life team that inspired the movie is experiencing much of the same—the Johnstown (Pennsylvania) Chiefs are moving south to Greenville, South Carolina.

2010-03-22 | Jim Murphy

Josh Barnett has kept a low profile in the MMA world ever since his failed drug test last summer set in motion a chain of events that led to the demise of Affliction’s MMA promotional efforts. He’s still appealing that ruling, but in the meantime has stayed out of the public eye for the most part. Aside from a couple of pro wrestling matches in Japan for Antonio Inoki’s IGF promotion, he’s been out of action completely. He made his long awaited return to MMA competition on Monday in Yokohama, Japan with a one sided submission victory over K-1 veteran Siala-Mou "Mighty Mo" Siligia in the semifinal match at DREAM 13.

2010-03-22 | Jim Murphy

When Cleveland Cavaliers backup center Zydrunas Ilgauskas was traded to the Washington Wizards in mid February, most observers felt that he’d wind up back with his old club once the NBA mandated 30 day period had elapsed. The Cavs received talented forward Antawn Jamison in return, though the Wizards quickly worked out a buyout deal with Ilgauskas. Despite overtures from several NBA teams, Ilgauskas has remained unsigned but that should change within the next day or so—if not sooner—and he’ll be back in Cleveland as soon as Tuesday.

2010-03-17 | Jim Murphy

During his tenure at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho never lost an English Premier League home game. After leaving the team in a conflict with management and taking over Italian Serie A side Inter Milan, he’s still got the magic touch on the pitch. Leading 2-1 from the opening leg victory in Milan, Inter needed only a draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge to advance in Champions League play. They did even better, as Samuel Eto'o scored late in the game to give Inter Milan a 1-0 victory in the game and emphatically eliminate Mourinho’s former club from the tournament.

2010-03-17 | Jim Murphy

Before performing surgery on David Beckham’s injured Achilles’ Tendon, Dr. Sakari Orava suggested that there was a remote possibility he could return in time for England’s World Cup bid. After the 50 minute operation, he reserved his initial assessment and confirmed that there was no possibility for the former England captain to return to action so soon. The new prognosis means that a best case scenario for Beckham is to recover in time to play in some of the LA Galaxy’s MLS games.

2010-03-17 | Jim Murphy

A frequent complaint of college basketball fans is that some teams pad their record with painfully easy non-conference schedules. No one is saying that about Arkansas-Pine Bluff. After starting the season 0-11 against a downright brutal non-conference schedule, they recovered to win the SWAC Championship. Their persistence has been rewarded with a NCAA tournament date against #1 seeded Duke, earned by virtue of a 61-44 victory over Winthrop in the play-in game held in Dayton, Ohio.

2010-03-15 | Jim Murphy

While Manny Pacquiao wasn’t able to close the show with a crowd pleasing knockout, his domination of Joshua Clottey at Cowboys’ Stadium on Saturday night couldn’t have been more complete. Panama’s answer to the Warner Brothers’ ‘Tasmanian Devil’ came very close to pitching a twelve round shutout en route to an easy unanimous decision victory. The official scorecards read 119-109, 119-109 and 120-108. Boxing and MMA news website THE SAVAGE SCIENCE had the fight scored 119-108, giving Clottey the 12th and final round.

2010-03-15 | Jim Murphy

David Beckham has been ruled out of the 2010 World Cup following a torn Achilles tendon, and his career beyond that is currently in doubt. The former England captain suffered the injury in the closing minutes of AC Milan’s home game against Chievo Verona on Sunday. A visibly shaken Beckham left the San Siro on crutches and will reportedly fly to Finland for medical treatment early this week.

2010-03-15 | Jim Murphy

Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta, horse racing’s two super fillies, have been in a dance around each other and toward each other for the past year as if they were heavyweight prize fighters. The comparisons are inevitable, but the 2009 Horse of the Year (Rachel) and runner up (Zenyatta) have yet to face each other on a racetrack. Both had been entered in the April 9th Apple Blossom Invitational at Oaklawn—with a $5 million purse at stake apropos of such an epic encounter. On Sunday, however, Rachel Alexandra’s management announced that they wouldn’t be running at the Apple Blossom after all.

2010-03-12 | Jim Murphy

It hasn’t been a good week for Liverpool supporters. Already smarting from an upset loss to relegation candidate Wigan in English Premier League action, Liverpool opened their Europa League quarterfinal series against Lille with a 1-0 loss in France. It was Liverpool’s first loss in their past six visits to France and left the team in the hole for the second half of the aggregate score series to take place at Anfield next Thursday.

2010-03-12 | Jim Murphy

English Premier League entrant Fulham was hoping to emerge from their Thursday quarterfinal matchup against Juventus at Stadio Olimpico di Turin in good shape to advance to the semifinals. Juvie had struggled at home of late, and a confident Fulham side hoped to add to these woes. It didn’t quite work out that way, however, as Juventus scored just nine minutes in and led 3-1 at halftime. Fulham was unable to cut into that margin after the break leaving them with a two goal deficit heading into the second half of the aggregate score series back in England next week.

2010-03-12 | Jim Murphy

There was some trepidation among Arsenal fans as the Gunners headed into the home half of their Champions League showdown with FC Porto. They were behind 2-1 on the aggregate score after a loss in Portugal, and the team hadn’t been able to overcome a first leg deficit in European Cup action since 1978. Any concern quickly proved to be unwarranted as Arsenal came out blazing and destroyed FC Porto 5-0 to advance to the quarterfinals.

2010-03-11 | Jim Murphy

After winning the first leg of their Champion’s League series with AC Milan 3-2 at the San Siro last week, Manchester United had a margin for error as they returned home for the rematch. They didn’t need it—Wayne Rooney scored twice as Man U easily advanced to the next round with a 4-0 destruction of Milan. Rooney had scored two goals in the first leg of the matchup as well, further enhancing his growing reputation as one of the best offensive players in European soccer.

2010-03-11 | Jim Murphy

Real Madrid will be hosting the Champion’s League final this year at their Bernabeu home field. Unfortunately, if they want to be in attendance they’ll have to buy a ticket. On Thursday they were bounced from the competition at the round of sixteen for the sixth straight year as they could do no better than a 1-1 home draw with French side Lyon. Lyon won a hard fought 1-0 decision in the opening half of the aggregate score competition one week ago.

2010-03-11 | Jim Murphy

The Utah Jazz had little trouble with the host Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night. Not that it was much of a surprise, as Utah has now won ten straight games against Detroit. The latest victory was a 115-104 rout that wasn’t as close as the final score indicated. The Jazz improved their hold on 4th place in the Western Conference with the victory and now trail third place Denver by only one game.

2010-03-09 | Jim Murphy

This was a game that Liverpool was supposed to be able to ‘phone in’ as they tried to finish the English Premier League season in the top five. Wigan is a team that is fighting to avoid relegation, and that had scored one goal against Liverpool in their previous six head to head encounters. Once the game was actually played, however, it was a completely different story as striker Hugo Rodallega scored a first half goal that was enough for Wigan to shock their visitors by a 1-0 score. The win will go a long way in assuring that Wigan is playing in the Premier League next season, while for Liverpool the loss put a serious dent in their hopes for a top tier finish.

2010-03-09 | Jim Murphy

The San Antonio Spurs received some good news and some bad news about the hand injury suffered by All Star guard Tony Parker. The good news? Parker’s hand won’t require surgery. The bad news? He’ll miss six weeks of action, effectively wiping out the rest of the regular season. Assuming no further complications, the team is hopeful that he’ll be back in time for the playoffs although with the Spurs currently in 7th place in the toughly competitive Western Conference a postseason berth is by no means guaranteed.

2010-03-09 | Jim Murphy

Until the third period of Monday’s game between the Washington Capitals and Dallas Stars it looked to be another workmanlike victory for the team with the NHL’s best record. The Caps took a 2-0 lead into the final period, only to see the Stars erupt for three unanswered goals. Alex Ovechkin tied the score late in the contest and sent it to overtime, where the Stars managed to prevail in the shootout for a 4-3 victory. It was only the Capitals seventh loss at home this season with only three of those defeats coming in regulation.

2010-03-04 | Jim Murphy

Up until now, it had been a breakout season for Chicago Bulls’ center Joakim Noah. Noah had been a star at the University of Florida, but there were serious questions about his ability to adapt to the more physical NBA game. After a mediocre rookie season, Noah had blossomed into a solid defensive presence, averaging a ‘double double’ of 10.7 points and 11.4 rebounds per game. This week, however, the team announced that Noah will be out of action three weeks as he attempts to recover from a nagging foot injury.

2010-03-04 | Jim Murphy

Following his contract buyout by the Washington Wizards, Zydrunas Ilgauskas is now an unrestricted free agent. He can sign with another team immediately, or he can return to his former team—the Cleveland Cavaliers—following a 30 day waiting period. His former teammates are doing everything they can to convince him to return to Cleveland.

2010-03-04 | Jim Murphy

England’s soccer team gave up an early goal to overmatched Egypt, but withstood the boos of the Wembley Stadium crowd to recover and go on to win the World Cup tune up contest by a 3-1 score. Tottenham Hotspur forward Peter Crouch scored twice after coming on as a substitute and may have played himself into a starting role.