In closing.....

Over the past 3 months I've collected stories about events and news in sports. Like I promised I steered away from the mainstream sports and focused more on other sports. Sports like soccer, tennis, NASCAR, horse racing and a variety of Olympic sports. Along with stories I collected I used other sources and technologies to enhance my blog such as an RSS feed, Twitter and Facebook widgets, a video bar and a Twitter feed. I also compiled a list of other blogs that could relate to the sports I discussed that my readers could access more stories from. I learned much about technology during this whole blogging process. I used many hyperlinks to connect the things I was saying in my posts to outside sources. I hoped this would make my posts more credible and I also thought it would help readers learn more about what I was discussing if they didn't really understand.


images.businessweek.com's picture of NASCAR.
A sport I really didn't understand before my blog


a twitter widget

I also learned a lot about technology from my blog. Having never used a blog before I really didn't understand how to embed videos and I wasn't very good at pulling pictures, videos and newspaper stories together to compile a post. I considered myself a journalist but I never considered myself a web journalist, or what you could call a 21st century journalist. Though I can gather evidence and write stories well that could be used by a newspaper print I couldn't use technology online to connect things the way this blog helped me. I now feel more confident in being able to use the Internet and connect different sites for credibility. Though I've had fun writing this blog it's been very challenging and keeping up with it on a day to day basis has been extremely difficult. Blogging and bloggers are journalists and I believe we're going to start to see a more dramatic shift in the way the news is received. Bloggers will become the new media and may begin to earn just as much money as in office journalists. We'll have to wait and see what happens with blogs, blogging and the Internet in general. It's been fun but for now I'd like to close my blog with one last story and even though I'm dying to write a post on the upcoming Cavaliers/Heat game where he-who-must-not-be-named will be returning to the city of Cleveland I promised I wouldn't. I will end with a man whose year has been maybe more exciting than #23's, Tiger Woods.

Blogger has taught me much about technology.

Over a year ago the sporting world was flipped upside-down when we learned about Tiger Woods and his infamous sex scandal. After being the golden boy of Nike, Tiger Woods shocked the world by revealing that he had a "sex addiction" and had had numerous affairs with women while married. The world has spent the last year waiting for different information to unfold on this story and we heard, from many women, the tales of his affairs and the crumble of his marriage. After a years worth of stories, press conferences, tears, rehab, emotional games of golf and what Tiger calls "his greatest year of personal growth away from golf", Tiger Woods will have his chance to regain his No. 1 golf ranking at the Chevron World Challenge this Thursday. The Chicago Tribune wrote that Tiger will tee off against 18 other golfers at Sherwood Country Club while golf's current No. 1 Lee Westwood will tee off in South Africa at the Nedbank Golf Challenge . If Tiger finishes well at Chevron and Westwood finishes outside of the top 2 at Nedbank Tiger will gain his No. 1 ranking back. If Tiger does not win the Chevron Challenge it will be his first win less year since he was a junior. Though it's been an emotional year for Woods I'm sure many of golf's faithful fans are hoping to see Tiger back at full swing. 

It's been a while since fans have seen this Tiger  

 
Westwood must finish outside of the Top 2 for Tiger

  to claim the No. 1 spot.

Tiger Woods reflects on the year. The associated press:

Another blog that might interest you is Kaleb's Blog, a blog on the NC State Wolfpack (my college!)

Happy Sporting!!

Portugal upsets World Cup Champion Spain

Spain's men's national team played a friendly against an improved Portugal national team Wednesday night in Lisbon where the Portuguese dominated the 2010 World Cup Champions with a 4-0 victory. This loss for Spain is the worst loss they have suffered since 1963 when Scotland defeated them 6-2. Surprisingly the Spaniards have only won three out of the last six games since the World Cup, and against the sub par teams of Liechtenstein, Lithuania and Scotland, and have allowed 12 goals in only four games! It's very unexpected from a team that months ago had the world at their feet at the World Cup in South Africa. This loss especially comes to a surprise with Spain's superstar forwards David Villa and Fernando Torres who have scored a combined total of 71 goals and excellent defense man Sergio Ramos. These players played no where close to their performance at the World Cup. Portugal's versatility up front made the Spanish defense suffer. With three different scorers in Carlos Martins, Helder Postiga and Hugo Almeida Portugal was able to keep Spain's defense busy the entire 90 minute game, scoring first in the 45th minute and scoring consecutively throughout the rest of the match. ESPN covered the match and said it was a great moral win for the Portuguese national team who were defeated by Spain in the second round of the World Cup and forced to go home early.

Here are highlights from the game provided by Youtube:




Worldcorrespondents.com shows a Portugal player
winning a ball from Spain in their 4-0 victory.


The win for Portugal against Spain also brings an interesting spin behind this battle between Portugal and Spain involving the bidding of the location of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. The FIFA ethics committee began an investigation of the two nations when it was rumored in an English press that the two nations had conspired to vote for each other so that both countries could have the World Cup in their respected country. There was not enough sufficient evidence to hold either country responsible leaving Spain and Portugal in the running for the 2018 World Cup along with England, Russia, Belgium, and Holland. These two countries  hope that together they can bring the World Cup, if not two World Cups, to Europe and their countries.

caughtoffside.com shows the world and slogan of FIFA.
The FIFA committee has a big decision to make about the
location of the 2018 World Cup.

Manny Pacquiao makes boxing history!

Spanning from 1932-1981 Sugar Ray Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Henry Armstrong, and Joe Louis were known as the best boxers in history but in 2010 Manny Pacquiao accomplished something that has set him in boxing history as one of the greatest fighters of all time. On Saturday, November 13th Pacquiao fought welterweight titlist Antonio Margarito for the Jr. Middleweight Championship of the world and won.What's the big deal about that? Pacquiao's victory made him the first boxer in history to win ten championship titles in eight different weight divisions.


Pacquiao gets weighed before the fight.

Over Pacquiao's career he's won titles at 112, 122, 126,130,135,140, 147, and 154 pounds, spanning his weight class from Flyweight to Jr. Middleweight. He was named Fighter of the Decade for the 2000's by the Boxing Writers Association of America, who also named him Fighter of the Year for 2006,2008 and 2009. Pacquiao's record currently stands at 52 wins, with 38 knockouts and 14 decisions, only 3 losses and 2 draws. Though Pacquiao boasts an incredible record and awards to go with it, it was the way in which he won his last fight that has boxing fans all over the world in awe of this man.

Pacquiao fought Margarito in a contracted fight at 150 lbs, but at Friday night's weigh in Pacquiao only weighed in at about 145 lbs and only pick up three more pounds to fill him out to 148 against 165 lb Margarito on fight night. The weight difference wasn't the only staggering statistic against Pacquiao. Margarito also held a 4½-inch height advantage and 6-inch reach advantage over Pacquiao. Though Margarito looked to be at a physical advantage Pacquiao seemed to be favored to win the fight. In which Pacquiao did, winning every round of the 12 round fight. Pacquiao threw 1,069 punches connecting on 474 of them, an impressive 44% connection percentage, and threw 713 power shots connecting on 411, for a 58% connection percentage. Marganto, who boasts a 38-7 record with 27 knockouts, fought hard and refused to quit even in the final rounds of the fight when both of his eyes had almost swollen completely shut. Marganto was taken to the hospital after the fight and underwent surgery for a fractured orbital bone in his face. Pacquiao won with honor and dignity, saying after the fight that he asked the referee to call it numerous times during the fight stating that he "didn't want to damage him permanently. That's not what boxing is about." All of this information can be found at ESPN's article on Pacquiao and the fight.



The differences show in the two fighters.

ESPN weighs in on Pacquiao's fight with Margarito and his upcoming fights:




Pacquiao has only one more contender to fight that would solidify him as the best fighter in the world currently. Floyd Mayweather, the closest "pound-for-pound" fighter to Pacquiao, declined fighting Pacquiao in Saturday's match which was given to Margarito instead. No fight has been set for these two boxers so boxing fans can only wait with anticipation to these two fighters duke it out for the title of world's greatest boxer.


Floyd Mayweather, Pacquiao's man to beat.

Super Star Athlete Retires.....

When humans are three-years-old we're just learning how to walk, talk and identify objects around the house but three-year-old American thoroughbred race horse Super Saver has the prestigous 2010 Kentucky Derby Championship Title to put on his mantle. After winning the Derby in May Super Saver and his jockey Calvin Borel, who won his third Derby title in four years with Super Saver's victory, went on to race in the Preakness Stakes. Saver finished eighth in the Preakness race making him the most recent horse to not win the Triple Crown. The Triple Crown has not been reached since 1978's Affirmed.


Super Saver leads the race

After losses in both the Peakness Stakes and the Haskell Invitational Super Saver had a full ventenary exam, which revealed that he had bruising and inflamation in all four of his cannon bones. According to ABC News the colt would have an anticipated full recovery but owners and trainers felt that there would be a slight risk Saver would not return to the same form. ESPN said instead of racing Super Saver would become a stud horse, a stallion that is kept for breeding, but no stud fee has been set yet. Saver retires with $1,889,766 earned from 3 wins in 10 starts with two second-place finishes and one third to his name. Though fans may be disappointed in Saver sitting the sidelines, owners and trainers think he has "nothing more to prove". Hopefully he'll breed champions that will take down the Triple Crown.

Video of Super Saver and jockey Calvin Borel winning the 2010 Kentucky Derby:

Tennis witnesses change in U.S. Davis Cup Captain

After serving 10 years as tennis's U.S. Davis Cup Captain Patrick McEnroe has stepped down. McEnroe, the 38th captain of the Davis Cup, will be replaced by 1990's Davis Cup star, Jim Courier. For non-tennis followers, the Davis Cup is an international team event in men's tennis run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) .  The United States has had the most tournament wins, with 32 victories, and most finishes as runner-up, with 29 times. Spain won the Davis Cup last year so the resignation of McEnroe may be Courier's chance to bring the Davis Cup back to the U.S. as captain.


McEnroe (left) will leave the Davis Cup Captain role to Courier (right)

The New York Times story on the captain change showed both player's respect for McEnroe and the excitement of Courier's arrival. Players like Andre Agassi called Courier “an inspired choice.” ESPN also ran the captain change story where Andy Roddick, 2003 U.S. Open Champion, tweeted: "jim courier new davis cup captain.... great choice!" In the same article Agassi also said "Jim has the experience, integrity and focus needed to bring the U.S. Davis Cup to new heights. I know firsthand that a man with Jim's credentials as a warrior and a champion will bring out the best in our players and our fans." Agassi is referring to Courier's excellence and dominance of the tennis world.  Courier won four Grand Slam singles titles and he holds the record for being the youngest person to have reached the finals of all four Grand Slam singles tournaments. In the Davis Cup alone Courier helped lead the U.S. to titles twice in '92 and '95. Courier holds a 13-1 record in Davis Cup championship play. With these kind of credentials and this kind of confidence from players, that Courier hopes will commit themselves to the 2011 Davis Cup Championship, Courier and the U.S. team look positive to come out of the championship with gold.

Top U.S. players Roddick (left) and Agassi (Right) are excited about
Courier as new Davis Cup Captain

NASCAR drivers take foot off pedal and put into sneakers

Being from the North (the great city of Canton, OH and home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame) I was very unaware of the Southen love of NASCAR. Not many people from my hometown watched NASCAR or knew anything about it. There was only one NASCAR lover that I knew of and he showed his support in his everyday wear of his beat-up Rusty Wallace hat while the rest of us stuck to the current status of King James and crew. My first step on my semi-southern school I quickly began to notice the extreme differences of the South and the North. Not only was there an extreme increase in sundresses, cowboy boots, pick-up trucks and camouflage there was also the sudden appearance of NASCAR fans. Students everywhere were wearing clothing, carrying backpacks, and talking about this sport that I had relatively no knowledge of.
Though I didn't know much about it I knew one thing was for sure when it came to NASCAR, the main concept involved people driving race cars that are traveling at a very fast speed around a track. First one to the finish won. Sounded a lot like track to me but with cars instead of humans. I began following NASCAR a little and learned a little bit about the sport. My initial discovery of NASCAR disproved my theory of track and NASCAR being similar. I didn't find as many "fit" guys as I expected to and began to question the validity of NASCAR as a "sport".

 
NASCAR drivers burn gas around the track while some have me questioning if they can burn calories

As I began to question NASCAR and the drivers who claimed themselves athletes I discovered a different brand of NASCAR drivers who were willing to compete in car and on foot. NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne, along with his charitable organization "The Kasey Kahne Foundation",  will be hosting a 5k charity event called the Five Kahne sponsored by Bank of America for the day after the Bank of America 500 in Charlotte. The Kayne Foundation benefits underprivileged and chronically ill children. The event is to held on Sunday, October 17th, at 8 a.m. where participants will run from the Bank of America Stadium to the NASCAR Hall of Fame (Ironically and luckily the buildings are exactly a 5k apart). Along with NASCAR Sprint Cup racing sponsorships, Bank of America has pledged $1 million toward education nonprofits for Kayne's Foundation event. Kahne invited all NASCAR drivers and teams to the event and so far drivers Jimmie Johnson and Joey Logano and ESPN broadcaster Marty Smith have all agreed to compete with Kahne in the race.

Kahne's Foundation event and his car, sponsored by Budweiser

When I discovered this event on ESPN I began to reconsider my feelings on the "sport" of NASCAR. The one thought left that I had was "How in shape could a NASCAR driver who is sponsored by Budweiser be?" The validity of my opinion of NASCAR rested on this question and I only knew one way to solve the answer. I must Google "Kasey Kahne". I nervously typed the name into the search bar on Google, half expecting to be disappointed in another average joe driver, when I was pleasantly surprised. Not only is Kahne in shape, he was featured in ESPN The Magazine's "Body Issue" where ESPN featured the top bodies in all of sports. Needless to say Kahne helped me in allowing myself to deem NASCAR "sport" worthy again and his charity event on Sunday has me anxious to see how fast these NASCAR drivers will be able to shift gears on foot.

Kahne stands up for NASCAR drivers as fit athletes

From New England..... to just England.

Baseball fans may be surprised in discovering that the Boston Red Sox owners are in the process of purchasing the English Club Futbol team, Liverpool. New England Sports Ventures, which runs and operates the Red Sox, proposed sale to buy out Liverpool was approved by the Premier League on October 6th, 2010. Current Liverpool owners, American business men George N. Gillett, Jr and Tom Hicks, disapproved the takeover, claiming NESV "dramatically undervales" their club, but were ousted from the club by a board vote of 3-2. However, the takeover is far from over, the case next moves to the courts where the three other board members of Liverpool will attempt to push the sale through.


Two partners of the New England Sports Venture


Gillett Jr and Hicks face $455 million in bank loans and penalty chargers. If the courts overrule the takeover the owners have until Friday to repay the money or may be forced into financial administration, a form of bankruptcy protection applied in Premier League rules.When a team goes into financial administration they face a 9-point penalty deduction and Liverpool is toeing that line. If the courts approve the takeover Gillett Jr. and Hicks will lose $223 million on their investment in the club. Though the current owners will lose money, the NESV has pledged to clear Liverpool's debt and revamp the team which should make Liverpool fans happy. Except that it isn't. Liverpool fans have expressed unhappiness in the "Yanks" attempted takeover of the English club stating that the Americans only care about money not about their club. The next few months in court and the approaching soccer season will have Liverpool fans anxiously awaiting more positive results from the "Yank" owners.

Brits might not be as supportive to the takeover. This fan certainly isn't.

London prepares for the world

The 2012 London Olympic games are less than two years away and the Olympic Delivery Authority is providing the chance for the London athletic facilities to receive a face lift in preparation for the games. The London athletic facilities will receive £10m in upgrades by the summer of 2012. The facilities will be used by athletes in the Athletes' Olympic Village from July 16th to September 9th for both Olympic and Paralympic athletes spanning from over 200 countries. The facilities have been raised to "world-class standards" for the athletes using them to compete in the Olympics but the Olympic Delivery Authority has said the greatest benefit to the upgrade is the impact that they new facilities will have on the community once the Olympics are over.


"Venues will be left with world-class courts and surfaces which will serve the community for years to come," said ODA chairman John Armitt

Though £10m is an extensive amount of money, especially if thought of being used only for one summer, the Olympic Development Authority has my support since ultimately this isn't for one summer, this for an entire lifetime. The community surrounding these buildings will be able to remember the 2012 Olympics as an historic event for London AND they will be able to have access to the same facilities as the Olympians did, which is something special within itself. The amount of money spent by the ODA for these facilities is worth it because to athletes of the 2012 Olympics they will only last a summer but the community surrounding the buildings it will be able to last them a lifetime. A story on all Olympic stadiums hoping for improvement can be found here.

ODA Chairman John Armitt takes us on a tour of the London Olympic sites at Youtube (embedding not available for this video!)

Canadian Marathoners Run Down a Dream

In the world of the marathon Canadian's haven't recently existed. Canada hasn't sent a single marathoner to the past couple of Olympics (partically due to the country's refusal to lower the qualifying standards) and the national record of 2:10:09 set by Jerome Drayton hasn't been contested in it's 35 year existance. Though the Canadians have had problems reaching their goals in the past, the 2012 London Olympics looks bright for the marathoners and the Canadians have the Brooks Canada Marathon Project to thank. Brooks owner Mike Dyon (winner of the Around the Bay race in the 1980's) started the Canadian Project hoping to give selected athletes the chance to train and live with other Canadian marathon athletes, without concern for financial support. Brooks Canada provides the athletes with free room and board in a home not far from High Park trails, a great place in Canada to train, along with free cable and transportation. Brooks Canada hoped that the Project would help the Canadian marathoners represent Canada in the Marathon Event at either the Olympic Games or the World Championship within two to six years. The Project is over 1.5 million dollars in the making and has promising athletes who hope to break the tradition and send a Canadian marathoner to the 2012 Olympic games.


Brooks has spent 1.5 million to help Canadian
marathoners reach their dreams.

One of the Brooks Canada Marathon Project members Matt Loiselle, 26-year-old from Windsor,  has proved the head of the group and will be competing in Sunday’s Toronto Waterfront Marathon where he will be attempting to hit the Canadian Olympic mark. This will be Loiselle's marathon debut and after running a 1/2 marathon best of 1:07:29 he looks poised to hit the mark of 2:11:29. An article of Loiselle can be found here in the Canadian National Post and results of the race can be found here.


Loiselle hopes to bring back the Olympic Marathon
to Canada

Usain considering a bolt to soccer

Usain Bolt, the Jamaican world-record holder in the 100 meters, is considering to attempt what many people are referring to as the "Michael Jordan". Bolt, who ran a world-record of 9.68 in the 2008 Berlin Olympics  believes his body is only capable to sustain four more years of hard track running. After that Bolt believes he has the size, speed, and talent to spend two years kicking it up with professional footballers. The question many die-hard track fanatics will ask will be "Why?". My question is Why not?

Bolt's World Record run:



Bolt has already proven he's one of the best sprinters of all time by winning numerous Olympic Medals and beating record after record and has committed himself to a new world-record of 9.4, which he believes will stand as an unbeatable record, in the next four years. It's 2010, leaving the 24-year-old Jamaican two years until the 2012 London Olympics and 2 more years of World Championships and Diamond League races to achieve this goal. At 28 Bolt will have spent ten years in the professional world of track and field! Come on Track and Field fans give the guy a break! He's already won 6 Gold Medals (3 in the 2008 Olympics and 3 in the 2009 World Championships) and 2 Silver Medals in the 2007 World Championships. Who knows what more he'll accomplish in four years. Soak up the next four years of Bolt and then let him move on. This is a good thing for American fans.....maybe a new sprint star will capture our hearts, maybe he'll even be American, and some gold medals! An article on Bolt's future can be found  here at NY Daily News.


Bolt sprints to victory.

A clean slate

Welcome to my sports blog!

September has arrived which means sport season is in full swing! All though September means the start of a clean slate for football teams, the last month before playoff competition for baseball and only a few months of training left for basketball season my blog is not going to pay any attention to them! I'm here to discuss stories and news in the less media-darling sports, sports that mainstream sports fans may pay no attention to. I'm here to give these sports the attention that they deserve! I'm also here to give the fans of these sports support and let them know that I understand their quest to find others who, like them, possess the love of these less publicized sports. I have heard the calling and I'm here to answer it by focusing on sports like boxing, soccer, running, NASCAR(though as you will later see I question the validity of this "sport"), tennis, horse racing and any other obscure sports I find along the way. I hope that my blog can serve as an outlet for fans that are searching for their source of news that they may not find on the 11 a.m. edition of SportsCenter. I hope everyone will enjoy my blog and give me some good feedback about my posts.

Cricket. A potential sport to discuss??

Now, though my sole purpose for this blog is 1. to give attention to the less popular sports and 2. for my Communication Media Writing class there is also a third reason for my blog. I love sports. I've always participated in sports and I want to be a sports broadcaster. Eventually, and in a perfect world, I want to work on ESPN doing either field reporting or have an awesome sports show like Michelle Beadle on SportsNation. In attempts to increase my chances of landing my dream job I've been working as a sports reporter for NC State University's TV station, WolfTV. I've had the chance to be on the field during football games, interview athletes and do some creative sports pieces as well. I'm telling you all this because recently female reporters have been having quite a rough time. Months ago it was Erin Andrews and the scandal which-will-not-be-named and now female reporters presents in the locker room is coming under question as well.


ESPN reporter Bonnie Bernstein reports from the field.

Personally I don't see the problem. Whether you are female or male reporting from a locker room there should be a sense of professional respect from both the reporters and the athletes. If an athlete hasn't dressed yet wait to interview them once they're dressed. If you're an athlete and you see reporters waiting to interview you quickly put on a pair of pants (and a t-shirt if you're a lady) and give the interview. By denying women the right to have access to locker rooms is putting them at a disadvantage professionally. If women can't access locker rooms wouldn't it just be easier for a station to higher men only? That way instead of having to send a female and male reporter to cover a game you would only have to send one, cuts half the salary, meaning women would no longer have the opportunity to be field reporters. I'm pretty sure somewhere in our legal system that would be classified under discrimination. The Washington Post ran a story by columnist Sally Jenkins, who spoke her opinion on women reporters and the broadcasting world. The story can be read here on the Washington Post online.

Here is a video of female reporter, Ines Sainz, discussing her issues in the locker room with male athletes. Happy Sporting!