Sports Takes Category

Bubba Watson slid on that retro looking green jacket for the 2nd time in 3 years this Sunday at Augusta. The two-time Masters winner walked off the 18th green with the first major win of the season. There were tears. There was his baby boy Caleb, whom Bubba and his wife, Angie, had adopted just prior to his Masters win in 2012. There was a genuine good guy coming off four quality rounds of golf. Bubba Watson is known as one of the longest drivers on the PGA Tour. HeRead More

The Masters is well underway in Augusta, and there are several unfamiliar faces atop the leaderboard. Allow me to introduce you to… Jonas Blixt: -2, tied for 5th He’s a world number 56, and is competing in his 3rd major and 1st Masters. At one point today, this 29-year old was in the lead by a couple strokes. It’s beginning to look like he may be falling back to earth after bogeying two holes late in the day, but still, what an effort. This came on a day when manyRead More

After Kentucky’s loss to UCONN, the question remains – how many of their players will be back for next year? Among the list of colleges that have produced current and active NBA players, the University of Kentucky is #1 with a total of 22 players sent off to the pros. In the championship game vs. UCONN, they started 5 freshman. Their roster carries with it the potential for another great season next year…if their 5 to 7 best players return. SBNation and DraftExpress, however, have at least 3 of Kentucky’sRead More

Spring showers bring baseball flowers. Baseball time equals happy time. It started just over a week ago and will last until the leaves change to orange and brown. Baseball is more than just a change in weather, and an outdoor activity, it’s an association with memories. I am very fond of the days in my youth when I would attend baseball games with my family. Living a short drive away from Qualcomm Stadium, we were all about the Padres. From the age of 6, I attended anywhere from 2-5 gamesRead More

The 2014 Major League Baseball season is upon us and the No. 1 ranked team is… The St. Louis Cardinals Like it or not, if this team stays healthy they may return to the World Series yet again. Last year, the Red Sox ousted them 4-2 in the series. It was appropriate that those two teams faced one another given that they tied for a 2013 regular season best 97 wins. The Cardinals have a young but stellar pitching rotation built around their ace, Adam Wainwright. Wainwright, who had 19Read More

Here are the NBA games you don’t want to miss this week. All times are Eastern. Wednesday Brooklyn at New York, 7PM ESPN When 2014 began, it appeared that we were headed for another year of depressing New York City basketball. The Nets overpaid for Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett and they weren’t getting the results that the owners planned for. The Knicks didn’t make any major offseason improvements and the acquisitions of Metta World Peace and Andrea Bargnani were disastrous. Admittedly, neither of those two statements have changed atRead More

One of my favorite holidays is in full-swing. It’s a day when the beauty of spring is in its fullest splendor. It’s a day for rebirth and renewal. It’s a day with no regrets when anything is possible.   I’m speaking, of course, about Opening Day.   I’m an atheist, which means I don’t have the right to observe any religion’s holidays (On occasion I have been mistaken for, beseeched to become, or half-seriously referred to as, Jewish. Alas, I’m not that cool. And I still have my foreskin). I’veRead More

Madness has transpired, the dust has cleared, and we’re left with sixteen contenders for one trophy. Here’s how I see the next two days playing out. Feel free to give me hell in the comment section when I get only one or two of these correct. Here goes: 1 – Dayton beats Stanford The Flyers are 3.5 point underdogs here, but no matter: Dayton will beat Stanford today. The Cardinal did beat Kansas…but that was without the Jayhawks star big man Joel Embiid on the court. Meanwhile, the Flyers haveRead More

Watching good teams win is fun. Watching them lose unexpectedly? Even more fun. It’s really sick and twisted when you think about it. Why are we hardwired to enjoy watching good teams lose? Watching the hopes and dreams of young men shattered at the mercy of a mid-major? Hmmm. Gotta love the tournament. Ah, the NCAA tournament. Unless I have a rooting interest, I want to see as many 12/5s as possible, and then see those 12s go to the sweet 16 and beyond. I don’t usually fill out brackets,Read More

Alright guys. It’s two in the morning, and I’ve done very little except watch basketball for the past four days. This is by no means a complaint; actually, thank the Lord Almighty for four straight days of the sporting world’s greatest spectacle – college ball. But man, has it been a frenzy. I’ll make this intro brief: Madness has been Madness; giants have fallen (Kansas, Villanova, Wichita State, Duke, Cincinnati, Ohio State, and more), a few groups of men are looking fantastic in glass slippers (Dayton, Tennessee, Stanford), and aRead More

Selections = made. Matchups = set. It’s time for the absolute BEST time of the year for any true sports fan: MARCH. F*CKING. MADNESS. Get ready for a wild two-plus weeks, folks, as this year is setting up to be one of the craziest in recent memory. Three of last year’s Final Four are in the same freaking region. Last year’s champs, Louisville, are somehow a 4-seed. Wichita State is the first team to enter the NCAA Tourney unbeaten since 1991…and not many people truly believe in them. There areRead More

Have you ever dreamed you were hanging out with your favorite athletes? That you were essentially in their world? So close, you can feel their quickness, agility, and ungodly talent. So close you can see and hear their interactions with teammates and opponents. Use your imagination. Pretend there are 20 basketball courts lined up next to each other, and there are All-Star players practicing at each one. Lebron plays one-on-one with Paul Pierce. Next to them, Kevin Durant and Damian Lillard play some horse. Oh, and Blake Griffin is tryingRead More

1. Isle of Man Race Statistically the most dangerous race in the world, the Isle of Man race has killed over 240 of its racers. The race is a motorcycle tourist trophy race held on the Isle of Man. It was first organized in 1907 and continues today. It survived both world wars, has seen different classes-  from amateur, to expert, and even side-car. It is now a high speed, high risk, and completely badass motorcycle race, deserving of your attention. 2. Free Climbing In the world of free climbing,Read More

Golf is a word that makes most of you yawn. But the sport itself is anything but yawn-worthy. It’s a chess match. A game of mental toughness and opportunity where the individual has no one to blame but himself. Besides, I bet most of you haven’t given the sport a chance. Am I right? Or am I REALLY right?   Challenge Both in career and in sport, most humans embrace challenges. While it’s instinctual for most, going back to our hunter/gatherer days, there are many in our generation that lackRead More

Hawes is a mid-level center who is a valuable commodity for the Cavaliers. Hawes gets an opportunity to play for a team that absolutely wants to make the playoffs, despite a dearth of talent. Cleveland is only 5 games out of the playoff picture right now meaning that Hawes will get to play for a team that’s trying for the rest of the year. He’s also going to be a free agent soon. 2) Evan Turner to the Pacers. Danny Granger to the Sixers Evan Turner should provide offense offRead More