Baseball Update

In the what is the world coming to category, the Youth Baseball League of New Haven has told a nine-year old boy, Jericho Scott that he is too good to play. Yes, that’s right, they are pulling him (and the team) from the League because he has a 40 mph fastball. Ok, it’s been awhile since I played youth sports, but aren’t you supposed to pull a player if he or she is NOT performing? I’m really confused. Maybe (as my Kids would say) it’s opposite day.

NY Yankees and Boston Red Sox will begin a three game series Tuesday. The Red Sox are 4 1/2 games behind the leading Tampa Bay Rays and the Yankees are trying to climb back in the race for a wild card slot. This series is also interesting because (unless the Yankees make it to the post season), this will be the last time the Sox and Yankees will play at the historic and hallowed Yankee Stadium.

Watercooler Discussion: Any opinions on the Youth Baseball League?

Well, the Olympics are over and I can now start going to bed at a reasonably sane hour. It was worth it though! People genuinely seemed to care more during these Olympics. There were more “did you see that last night” conversations in offices. It was primarily the heroes and underdog stories that put the Olympics on everyone’s radars.

First off, there was, of course, Michael Phelps who eclipsed Mark Spitz’s record by winning EIGHT GOLD MEDALS. Then, there was the USA Men’s Gymnastic Team, who won the bronze medal with their ‘back-ups’ essentially. Sasha Artemov, a kid who was told just 3 days before the Olympics that he was going to compete, had the chance to seal the bronze on the pommel horse. While he was notorious for making nervous mistakes, he absolutely nailed his routine and USA captured the bronze. USA’s Nastia Liukin won the all-around gold medal for women’s gymnastics. And, of course, there’s Jamaica’s Usain Bolt. He broke world records in both the 100m relay and 200m relay, surpassing the times of the former unforgettable record holder, USA’s Michael Johnson. Essentially… AMAZING things happened, and people wanted more and more.

On Sunday, the USA Redeem Team had a shot to solidify their name with a Gold medal game against Spain. The medal didn’t come easy, however, with Pau Gasol and Spain giving it everything they had. But in the end, the US prevailed 118-107 behind Kobe Bryant and a spectacular game from Dwayne Wade (27 points). The US Women’s Team, however, easily coasted to their 4th gold medal.

NFL

And, of course, more on the Brett Favre saga. He has been adjusting relatively well to New York, however, when the Jets signed Favre, they had to cut their long-time veteran quarterback, Chad Pennington. Now, Pennington gets a shot in Miami, and it would be interesting to see him thrive, and possibly even BEAT Favre and his old team when the Jets and Dolphins meet on their opening day, Sunday September 7th.

Very sad news for the Giants. In Saturday’s preseason game against the Jets, the Giants’ Pro Bowl defensive end, Osi Umenyiora tore his lateral meniscus in his left knee and is now out for the season. This is very bad news for the Giants as their other Pro Bowl defensive end, Michael Strahan recently retired. There is buzz however on trying to get Strahan to come back for another season…stay tuned!

WATERCOOLER DISCUSSION: WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE EVENT/EVENTS OF THE 2008 OLYMPICS?

NFL News

Legendary and often controversial NFL Players Association Executive Director, Gene Upshaw died Thursday from pancreatic cancer only a few days after his doctor diagnosed him. Prior to the NFLPA, Upshaw was a hall of fame guard for the Oakland Raiders.

Olympic Update

U.S. Women’s Soccer won the Olympic Gold with a 1-0 victory over Brazil in overtime….that’s the good news!

After a 22 consecutive game winning streak and 3 gold medals, the U.S. Women’s Softball team lost to Japan and had to settle for a silver medal.

And, to top it off, the Men’s and Women’s 4×100m relay teams dropped batons in the preliminaries. Both teams did not advance to the next round.

Olympic Update

1) Fastest Man on Earth! Usain Bolt won the gold medal in the 200m. He is now the first man since 1979 to hold the 100m and 200m records simultaneously. Bolt set a World Record in the 200m by winning in 19.3 seconds….and, he didn’t slow up this time. Some are speculating that Bolt slowed up in the 100m because he already held the world record.

2) Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh did not lose a single set in 14 consecutive Olympic matches (from Athens to Beijing) to win their second consecutive gold medal. No one has ever done that before!

3) Team USA defeated Australia and now faces Argentina in the semifinals. They are really making this basketball competition look pretty easy.

4) U.S. Womens’ Volleyball (on the court vs on the beach) defeated Cuba to advance to the gold medal game.

Baseball Update

MLB umpires and management signed an agreement to implement instant replay in the game.

NASCAR Update

Joe Gibbs Racing is in hot water. The powers that be at NASCAR suspended seven members of JGR for attempting to manipulate a horsepower test after a Nationwide Series race last weekend. JGR drivers Tony Stewart and Joey Logano lost 150 driver points and the teams were placed on probabation.