Kansas Defeats Memphis in Overtime

The NCAA Final Four Basketball Tournament is finally over after the University of Kansas defeated the University of Memphis with a score of 75-68 in overtime.

Watching college basketball is one of the most exciting things on television, at least in my opinion.  As most people already know, the Final Four is the Super Bowl of college basketball.  This makes it the thing to watch in the month of March. It is full of players giving everything they have, just to make it to the next game.  And the NCAA is full of truly talented players that make the game even better.

The final game in this Final Four made watching the tournament worth while.  I don’t care if your team didn’t win or if your team didn’t make it, the game was still worth watching.  With how often the score fluctuated and then last second three pointer by Kansas to tie the game up and send it to overtime was amazing.  Players shined through on both teams but in the end Kansas came out on top.

I would not want to be a part of the Memphis team right now.  They had the game in the bag.  No one thought that Kansas would be able to come back. It just seemed impossible.  The Kansas coach was smart by fouling Memphis because they couldn’t make a freethrow.  If they would have made half of the freethrows at the end of the game there would have been no way for Kansas to come back. You are a Division 1 NCAA player, freethrows should be free points.

Baseball back in action

It only feels fitting to start off saying, “play ball.”  Baseball season is back into full bloom and after an eventful opening day, man fans are left to wonder if the season is going to turn out the way they are hoping.

One game in particular that I personally had the privilege of watching was the Detroit Tigers v. Kansas City Royals.  This game was ridiculous.  For their opening day, these men went into extra innings, playing 11 full innings instead of the usual nine.  In the end, the Royals came back from behind to defeat the Tigers five to four.

As a fan of baseball, it was nice to watch the team that was behind for half of the game come back and become the victor. However, from a player’s point of view, that must have been the most frustrating game to start the season off with.  No one likes to lose the games that they are ahead by three runs for five innings.  Teams settle for the three and seem to be fine with that.  As we clearly see, this just can’t happen.

Siblings in professional sports

I have always wondered why it is that some families can have kids with all of the kids being star athletes while other families have children with only one or even none.  I find it fascinating when siblings share a passion for a sport and are both able to go professional and be successful.  For football, this pair is Peyton and Eli Manning.  For baseball, the new pair is Justin and B.J. Upton. B.J., 23, plays for the Tampa Bay Rays, and Justin has just started his career with a home-run to help his Arizona Diamondbacks win against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

I think baseball fans everywhere should be excited to see these two men play.  Both have a new and budding career in baseball, and from what I can see, both are living up to what they promised.  Both are big sluggers, Justin having already hit 2 home-runs since being brought up to the Diamondbacks for their AA league.  B.J. hit 24 home-runs last season for Tampa.  We need to keep our eyes open to see what these two men can do in the long run.

Softball Season Off to Good Start

With the Oklahoma Christian University softball season off and running, the players are excited for their upcoming games and hopeful for a winning season.

The first few games             

   The lady Eagles have finished their first week of games in a jam-packed season.  With seven games played, the girl’s season is already off to a great start with a record of 5-2. 

                “Our season started off almost exactly how we wanted it to,” junior pitcher Linzi Farris. “We struggled during one of our games this weekend, but we are still learning from each other.”

Tournament results

                This weekend, the ladies played in a tournament in Farmers Branch, Texas.  Friday began with two huge wins but the day ended with a close 3-2 loss.

                “It was a tight game that I think we could have won,” senior third baseman Rachel Smith said. “Things just seemed to be leaning their way and not ours.”

                But the girls collectively agree that is not an excuse.

                “It didn’t happen for us, but we shouldn’t have been that close,” junior shortstop Tracy Washam said. “We never should leave it up to an umpire.”

                Saturday morning started early for the girls with their first game at 9 a.m. This game added a win to the books.  The second game did not go as well.  The game ended in the fifth inning with the mercy rule, resulting in the team’s first big loss.

                “We had a really rough game,” Farris said. “We made way too many errors on the field, but we made even more mental errors and that is what really hurt us.”

What to expect

                The girls are anxious to get back to practice and fix the problems.  They want to become the best team in Oklahoma Christian softball history, and can’t wait for the season to get into full bloom.

                The Lady Eagles play today against Oklahoma City University.  First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. with a second game starting at 4 p.m.

Johnson 16 short of 300 career wins

Although I think that Randy Johnson is one of the most overrated players in baseball, even I can not deny that he is an incredible pitcher with a very big milestone coming up.

Johnson is a mere 16 games away from the 300th win in his extensive career.  This is amazing.  Not only is he a great pitcher, he is one of the oldest pitchers in baseball.  At 45, Johnson is making records and pitching better than some of the freshest players in baseball.

Will Johnson’s past season performances, it is very likely that this rare feat will happen.  However, as the pitcher ages, the likelihood of Johnson being added to the disabled list goes up.

Personally, I would love to see Johnson hit the 300 career wins mark.  I am not a fan, but if he hits it, he might finally retire and get out of baseball while he is ahead.  Too many pitchers go way downhill before they have the brains to retire.  I hope that Johnson is not one of these fools.

Romo dates Simpson

I was looking at the sports section on technorati.com and one of the top stories was Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo double dating with another couple. The question that I have with that is, who really cares?

People do not go to sports sections for news about who is dating whom. I watch television for that. I want to see things about actual sports when I am looking for them.

Another thing that I find extremely ridiculous is the fact that people truly care who people are dating. I personally would never want who I was dating posted all over the Internet or all over television. We as Americans need to take a step back and take a look at what truly is important. Celebrity dating is not important.

It is also ridiculous that people blame Simpson for the Cowboys loss. One person who is not even on the team cannot determine the win or the loss of a game. Romo did not play well enough to win. This could have happened whether he was dating Simpson or was not dating her. He is human just like the rest of us, and humans are not perfect. Mistakes happen.  Stop trying to put blame on uncontrollable things. It is over, and people need to get over it. Start getting ready to support your team next year.

HGH Testing in Baseball

The amount of drugs used in baseball to try to enhance a players ability baffles me.  What shocks me even more is that more drug testing is not done to try to prevent this.  Baseball is never going to be raised to the glory that it once was until all of the performance enhancing drugs are out of the sport.

There are tests that players have to go through during a season that try to stop the use of drugs.  These are administered through urine testing. But these tests do not catch human growth hormone.  Players like Derek Jeter are taking a stand and pushing for blood tests. Drugs, including HGH can be caught in these tests.

We need more players like Jeter in all sports. Jeter is a player that has raw talent and has enough respect for himself and the game that he doesn’t get involved in the stupidity of hgh.  I love that he is taking a stand for something that he feels is right.  I totally agree with him that baseball is never going to be great again unless we get these drugs out of the sport.  Why do we look up to these people if they aren’t even secure in their own talent?  Lets get more talent with less insecurity. Drugs need to be taken out of baseball.

Belichick opens up

According to and NFL Iron Grab, Belichick has finally come out to the press and publicly denied having videotaped the Rams practice before the Super Bowl.  I don’t see why Belichick would even feel the need to videotape the practice.  The Patriots were going into the Super Bowl favored to win, no doubt in many people’s minds.  Why risk something great like the biggest game in professional football if you are favored to win? 

I would also think that if Belichick had the tape of the practice, the Patriots would have come to the Super Bowl a lot more prepared than they were.  They did not play like an undefeated team, and certainly didn’t look like they had the tactics of the other team hidden away.  I can’t wait for these allegations to be over so that we can go on with our lives and bring important things back into focus.

Clemens Steriod Use

I don’t know other’s opinion, but I personally am extremely tired of hearing about steroids in baseball, or any sport for that matter. When did it start becoming cool to cheat? And what kind of message do these players think that they are sending to little kids that look up to them? Whether they like it or not, these men are rolemodels and have a big responsibility with that. 

Roger Clemens is supposed to be one of the best pitchers in baseball (not my own personal opinion but it is what I am told), but even he couldn’t go through his career without steroids.  The FOX Sports article that was written on Feb. 11 was absolutely rediculous.  Yes, I do believe that Clemens took steroids.  I also believe he is lying everytime he steps in the court and tries to tell people otherwise.  I can’t wait for the day for Clemens to be found out. I think I would be schocked if he would step up and tell the truth and that would help him gain a little respect back from me.

There needs to be more players like Derek Jeter, plays with pure talent, and less players using steroids.

Falling of the NFL is Outrageous

The current MSNBC article about the NFL beginning its decline after the SuperBowl is outrageous.  There is no way that a sport loved so much by Americans today is going to vanish after one season.  Yes, there are a lot of bad things that have happened off the field and behind the scenes of football, but we as Americans have let them happen and let them slide, and the loss to the Giants is not going to change that fact.  It reminds me of the saying, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.  We have been allowing this type of behavior for so long with althletes that in order for it to change, a huge step will have to be taken and I simply don’t see that happening in the near future, if even at all.