The War vs PEDs: The Return

Photo From: http://cbsnewyork.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/melky-cabrera-bartolo-colon.jpg%3Fw%3D300
Giants outfielder Melky Cabrera and Athletics starter Bartolo Colon have become the latest two baseball players to fail a drug test and receive a 50-game suspension, ruling them out of the rest of the regular and postseason.

Major League Baseball have one man to sarcastically thank for the recent scandals (yes, that’s pluralized, because of both Bartolo Colon and Melky Cabrera recently being suspended) that have overshadowed what has been an exciting two weeks in baseball: 2011 NL MVP Ryan Braun. Thanks to Mr. Braun, who was originally suspended 50 games by Major League Baseball for a positive drug test, which was then revoked after a successful trial, performance enhancing drugs have made a big comeback on baseball’s biggest stage. 

This Past Week in Sports Has Been Interesting, But…

Some weeks during the sports calendar can you say that it was a fast or a slow week, an interesting or a boring week, but I think it’s fair to say that this past week or so has been interesting to say the least. The sad part is what has dominated the headlines: Steroids. First Melky Cabrera a little over a week ago, now Bartolo Colon (honestly, I’m not surprised, people have been questioning him ever since he came back and did well for the Yankees) and now, Lance Armstrong (to read more go here).

Hopefully in the next day watch out for another post on this topic.

Rory McIlroy’s Flair for the Un-Dramatic

Rory McIlroy won his second major Sunday, cementing his status as golf’s newest face of the game.
Photo From: http://resources2.news.com.au/images/2012/08/13/1226449/004562-rory-mcilroy.jpg

When Rory McIlroy wins, he wins big. Once again, after winning the PGA Championship in Kiawah Island, South Carolina for his second major win, the young Northern Irishman continued that trend, winning by a whopping 8 strokes again. While players like Tiger Woods were left out to dry, McIlroy dominated the field en route to the win, his second after the 2011 US Open. Last year, at Congressional, McIlroy shot a record score, winning again by 8 strokes. While this time his performance wasn’t as legendary, it was spectacular and impressive nonetheless.

Some can argue that his first major win was more important to his career, some can argue that this one was more important. While both were certainly important, this win was vital to ensure his status as golf’s new best player (not Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, or any of the former #1 players who failed to make a mark in majors.

Believe it or not, but the last 2 months or so very well might have been the toughest of McIlroy’s young career. After struggling throughout the entire summer and some weeks before, at one point having a string of three straight missed cuts, you could tell McIlroy wasn’t just playing well- that was obvious- but that his confidence was shot. The sad thing was that the media were absolutely beating him up…and it showed. They berated his play, questioned his commitment to the game, and even went as far as suspecting that his girlfriend, tennis player and former #1 Caroline Wozniacki was having too much of an effect on his game.

The thing that is most impressive about this huge win is how he seemed to take out all his frustration and anger with the media and convert it into the fuel for his fire that propelled him to this title. He didn’t take it out on himself, nor on his clubs (See: Woods, Tiger at the Masters), but rather, used it as positive energy. For a 23-year old guy to do that shows a LOT (with a capital L) of mental toughness that I doubt a 23-year old Jack or Tiger had.

Now all that needs to be done is for the haters to stop hater, the detractors to stop detracting, because there’s no more to be said- Rory McIlroy is on the big stage now, and is “for real”.

All that now needs to be done is for the other half of “Wozzilroy” to step up. Your move, Caroline Wozniacki.

Restart #1,000… Or So it Seems

I’ve been contemplating shutting down this blog for a while for both time (or the lack of it) and interest purposes, and solely working on Already Booked, but I’ve decided I’ll try to squeeze The News of Sports back into my schedule again. There’s so much to talk about (no, while I haven’t been writing about it, I’ve certainly been watching it) regarding the Olympics, the Dwight Howard trade, etc, but I don’t want to rush through them all, but I really appreciate the patience, and this time I’ll try my best to post about 3-4 times a week. Every day is a stretch for me at this point, but that’s my goal.

Thanks so much for the continuous support from all of my blogging friends.

Update

I’ll be away from the computer for the next 3 1/2 to 4 weeks, so there won’t be any posts during that time on any of my blogs. Thanks for the support and I’m disappointed I didn’t get to start my new feature (I won’t share what it is yet) before now, but I’ll try my best to post about once per day once I come back. Have a great summer.

A Final Farewell for Ukraine’s Sporting Hero

Photo From: http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/slides/photos/002/312/608/146181436_crop_650x440.jpg?1339451206

For Andriy Shevchenko, this could be the end of his playing career for his nation. However, 45,870,700 people (Source: World Bank), the population of the Ukraine, hope that it won’t end with him watching his teammates from the sidelines in their last EURO 2012 soccer match of the group stage.

ESPN 30 for 30

ESPN’s “30 for 30” series is my all-time favorite sports documentary (or any documentary series, for that matter) series, so obviously I’m stoked that ESPN’s coming out with a brand new volume of the best stories in sports. I can’t wait to see how it turns out. If you haven’t seen any of the films yet, you can probably find some online and the rest come on infrequently on ESPN, usually at awkward times, so it’s probably best to record them and watch later.

The 30 for 30 page on ESPN is here. In case you were wondering, some of my favorite documentaries from the original volume are The Two Escobars, No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson, and Guru of Go, although I haven’t seen all of them, just most.

I highly recommend watching these documentaries, as they follow some of the biggest stories in the last 30 years. The series was meant to celebrate 30 years of ESPN, but became really popular, so it’s continuing.

Already Booked

You might have noticed that The News of Sports has been a little vacant recently…that is from recent posts. I’m one of the co-founders of a blog called Already Booked…And More,  where there are multiple writers who give great reviews on movies, video games, books, etc. Like I said, I co-founded this blog, and I’d love it if the readers of The News of Sports could check out this blog at alreadybooked.wordpress.com. We’ve gotten over 19,000 hits (more than I have already) in only 5 or so months! Feel free to leave comments or emails at alreadybookedblog@gmail.com or comment on the blog or on this blog. I really appreciate it!

Hopefully we can get some more readers at Already Booked!

2012 Stanley Cup Finals Preview & Analysis

(6) NEW JERSEY DEVILS (EAST)

VS.

(8) LOS ANGELES KINGS (WEST)

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2012 Western & Eastern Conference Finals + Daily Score Updates

Note: I’m so sorry this is late, again I was late in getting my analysis done, but I had some roadblocks along the way. Again, please forgive me for the delay, it was completely my fault, and Eddie, from Everything ‘Canes and More posted his analysis on time. But hey, better late than never, no?