Week 8 in sports- FINAL POST

I intentionally took a week off before posting this last one because I wanted to wait until the conclusion of the Masters so I could add that in my post along with the ending of the NCAA basketball tournament, and many other big time sporting events that have been going on.
So lets start off with the most current event, The Masters. In my opinion, this is the greatest weekend in sports. I got really lucky this year and actually got to attend Augusta National on Friday of the Tournament. All week leading up to it, Tiger Woods was said to be the favorite to win the green jacket this year because of his two wins earlier in the year on the PGA Tour and also because of his previous history playing in the historic Masters tournament. Another huge headline coming from the golf tournament was the name Guan Tianlang, the 14 year old boy from Asia who already has the incredible amount of talent that it takes to qualify for this tournament. Tigers name stayed pretty high on the leaderboard throughout the duration of the weekend, and going into Sunday, no body counted him out. However, it was a breakthrough year for the Australians this year in Augusta. Adam Scott, who had a pretty good run at winning the tournament last year but came up just a bit short, beat Angel Cabrera, a Master's champion himself, in two playoff holes to become the first Australian to ever win a Green Jacket and be crowned Master's champion. As good as the tournament was, its always sad for it to end because that just means another year long wait for the spectacular weekend to come again.
Even though this is week old news now, the Louisville Cardinals won the college basketball National Championship a week ago defeating the Michigan Wolverines. This game was one of the most exciting national championship games in a long time. The Cardinals rallied around their injured teammate Kevin Ware, to bring Rick Pitino and Louisville home a national championship trophy of their own.
Moving on to a little bit more local sporting news, Clemson Baseball continues to play well. They became ranked in the top 25 at the beginning of last week, and they also won today in extra innings making that 10 straight games that they have won. The tigers will hope to continue to stay hot as the season moves on into the summer and tournament time, keeping their eyes on their road to Omaha and a chance to play for it all.
Clemson football had the most action they will have until the season starts next season. The spring game was played this past weekend. There was a good turnout with fans and their high hopes for what could be an impressive season next year. Football always puts a special buzz in the air in Clemson as we all know, so now all we can do is wait for the highly anticipated season opener to come against Georgia in the fall.
In other sporting news, the Atlanta Braves are also playing incredibly well right now winning a big one today and improving their record to 11 and 1. On top of that, the NBA playoffs are just a few days away. As expected, the Miami Heat are the front runner and the favorites to win it all again this year, but as the playoffs come, we will see if they can repeat and be deemed world champions for the second year in a row.
Even though this blog is coming to an end, we all know the sports world never stops and we anticipate lots more excitement in the many sporting events to come.
GO VOLS and GO TIGERS!
 
 

Week 7-Sports

We are down to one last weekend of March Madness. It almost a little sad to see it come to an end. But this weekend, the number one team will be crowned the National Champions at the Final Four down in Atlanta.
The four teams that are left are: Louisville (the only 1 seed to make the final four), Wichita State (9 seed), Michigan (4 seed), and Syracuse (4 seed). Wichita definitely stands out in this field as the Cinderella team. Not many people expected them to make it this far in the tournament. In fact, of the millions and millions of brackets that were filled out on ESPN for their bracket challenge, only 8 people got the final four right. Another big story that comes from these final four teams is Louisville. Last night they played against Duke for their chance to get in. About halfway through the first half, Louisville guard, Kevin Ware jumped up to block a shot, and when he landed, his leg snapped in half with the bone coming out on national TV. This is arguable one of the nastiest injuries that has happened on national TV in sports. Emotions were very high with many teammates and even Coach Rick Pitino holding back tears as Ware was taken off the court on a stretcher. However, Louisville rallied in the second half and ended up blowing Duke away and advancing to the Final Four for the second consecutive year.
With March Madness coming to an end this weekend, we are officially one week away from Masters Week. The best week of the year in the sport of Golf. With Tiger playing so well, he is easily the front runner to win in Augusta, especially with his past in this tournament, but many people aren't counting out Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy, or even last years winner Bubba Watson. There is no telling what could happen in this years Masters just like every year. It always provides us with a weekend full of excitement.
Opening day in Major League Baseball was today. The Yankees started the season off with an 8-2 loss to the Red Sox, with the story of the Yankees being that practically every big name player on their team is hurt to start the season. Baseball season is a definite sign of spring/summer and warm weather and it is always an exciting time of the year when it kicks off and gets underway.
Finally, I can't leave out that D.A. Points won this week down in Texas on the PGA tour, and also the Miami Heat had their winning streak snapped (it officially stands as the second longest of all time). With many baseball just getting started, golf getting to the big part of the season, March Madness coming to an end, and the NBA playoffs right around the corner, spring is ultimately the best time in the sports world.
 
 
 

Week 6 in Sports

The most exciting season in sports is finally here. With the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament already under our belt, and baseball season officially a week away, and not to mention golf is really about to take off, no sports fan could consider themselves bored at this time of the year. If they are anything like me, they spent the last weekend of their spring break sitting on the couch and watching basketball games from 12 pm-11 pm every day.
The NCAA tournament, has already (just like always), provided us with tons of excitement. The story of the tournament so far has been Florida Gulf Coast University. They were deemed a 15 seed going into the tournament getting matched up against a powerhouse of a Georgetown team coming out of the Big East. With a huge first round upset, FGCU caught everyone's attention by advancing to the second round. Even more so, they made history by beating San Diego State in the second round and becoming the first 15 seed to ever make the Sweet 16. Besides that just about every game has been worth watching and as the next few weeks come, just about every basketball fan will be glued to their TV's to see how this years NCAA tournament pans out.
Since, we took a week off for spring break, Clemson's basketball season has officially come to an end after taking a first round loss in the ACC tournament to Florida State. Also, since I have to mention Tennessee, they lost in the third round of the SEC tournament and were invited as a 2 seed to play in the NIT. However, they took and early exit from that losing in the first round to Mercer.
On the golf course, Tiger Woods is the big talk. Winning another tournament this weekend at Arnold Palmer's Tournament, Bay Hill, in Orlando, Florida, he regained his spot as the number 1 ranked golfer in the world. The title that he once held a couple years ago, and that people started to question if he would ever get it back. This makes him the front runner to win the Masters in a couple weeks (a tournament that he typically plays very well in). With him playing so well and gaining this momentum before the first major of the year, the big question is, can Tiger capture another green jacket?
Clemson football's spring practice is still underway and many fans look forward to the spring game that will take place in a couple weeks. Clemson baseball is also playing well as they begin to get into the ACC part of their schedule and their quest for Omaha and the College World Series. They will play a one game stand Wednesday against Georgia here in Clemson.
As for that, it has been a great past couple weeks in the sports world, and being in the middle of March Madness, we look forward to a couple more exciting weeks.

Sports Week 5

Football is back, baseball and golf are just about to really get going, basketball is approaching what is in my book the most exciting part of the season, what more could you ask for. Clemson baseball had a successful weekend (thankfully because basketball sure didn't), and Clemson football has officially started spring practice, which we all know gets everybody excited in the south.
Clemson baseball won a big game against Wofford in the middle of last week, before getting on the road for their weekend 3-game series at North Carolina State. The tigers won back to back games on Friday and Saturday, but couldn't quite pull off the sweep after loosing a close one on Sunday. However, most people will take 2 games out of 3 any day, especially when it is against a conference opponent like NC State.
Basketball, on the other hand, struggled again this week. Tuesday night Clemson had one of the ugliest losses of the season loosing at home on their own senior night to Boston College. This game stood as the last home game for senior Devin Booker and Milton Jennings. After that loss they traveled down to South Beach on Saturday to play Miami in the last game of the regular season. They lost again in this one giving them the number 11 seed in the upcoming ACC tournament in Greensboro, NC. They will play the 7 seed, Florida State on Thursday for what will now be lose and go home basketball.
On a more positive note, college football is back in the air. Clemson started its spring practice this past week which marks the beginning of a season the has some high hopes that go with it. Tennessee also started their spring football practice this week that has many people excited on Rocky Top because of the start of the new season with our new coach, Butch Jones.
Staying on the Tennessee side of things, Tennessee Basketball capped off their season with 2 HUGE wins this week keeping their NCAA tournament hopes alive. They went to Auburn on Wednesday and picked up a big road win following that up with a big senior day win in Knoxville Saturday against Missouri. They got the 5 seed in the SEC tournament and will play the winner of South Carolina and Mississippi State.
A few other notable events happened this week. Tiger Woods won again this week down in Miami, Florida giving him his second win on the PGA Tour this year. Is he back? That's the question buzzing in the air in the sports world and only time will tell as the PGA Tour season really gets going as we get closer and closer to April.
As this week goes, the conference tournaments will all run their course and teams will begin to punch their tickets to "The Big Dance" or March Madness. Come next Sunday, ESPN will host their Selection Sunday show, and a week from today we will all be filling out our brackets in what is looking more and more like what is going to be a great NCAA basketball tournament.
 


 

Week 4 in Sports

This week seemed almost like a little bit of  a quiet before the storm in the world of sports. With March Madness and The Masters right around the corner, we are in the middle of just a small dead window. However, here at Clemson, we still have baseball and basketball both going on.
Clemson baseball had a huge series this weekend against the school that everyone hates around here, South Carolina. They were traveling all the way across the state this weekend playing Friday here in Clemson, Saturday in Greenville, and Sunday in Columbia. Clemson didn't get off to such a hot start after loosing the opening game Friday on our home field. They turned it around quickly though in Greenville responding with a big win Saturday. The series was up for grabs Sunday with both teams each have winning 1 game a piece. The tigers just couldn't find a way to get it done Sunday taking their second loss of the weekend, always a big disappointment, especially when it is to the GameCockes.
Very similarly, Clemson Basketball couldn't find a way to get many wins this week either. With the powerhouse team that North Carolina is coming in last Thursday, they struggled from the get go and never really even seemed to be in the game. It ended up a loss by only 9 points, but it never even seemed that close, it was a pretty ugly game. Following that, the tigers were in action Saturday at Virginia Tech. A team that we had beat earlier in the year, but the known fact of teams being difficult to play on the road prevailed, and Clemson lost another one. Now with two games to go in the regular season, the men hope to pick up a few wins (Boston College, and at Miami) before the ACC tournament in Greensboro. Senior night and the last home game of the season is Tuesday night against Boston College.
It's probably apparent now that I can't talk about Clemson athletics without talking a little bit about my Tennessee Volunteers. This week was a huge week on the basketball court for them. After winning 5 games in a row and playing as good as anyone in the SEC, they had their hands full Tuesday night with the number 8 team in the nation, the Florida Gators. If Tennessee wanted any consideration to get into the NCAA tournament, they were going to have to win this game. The Vols pulled off the upset in Knoxville continuing their streak to 6 wins in a row. However, after playing so well, Tennessee slipped up a little this weekend after suffering a road loss at Georgia in what was a pretty pathetic performance.
A few other big things happened this past week. Stephan Curry of the Golden State Warriors scored 54 points in Madison Square Garden against the Knicks. Also, Micheal Thompson picked up his first career win on the PGA Tour this week down in Florida at the Honda Classic.
As for that, you can always count on the sports world for a little excitement in your week as we look forward for some real excitement in the weeks to come.



 

This week in Sports- Week 3

This week, once again, many things in the sports world took place. From baseball, to football, to golf, to even NASCAR there were big time sports events all over the media this week.
First of all, even though its not football season, it is getting very close to the NFL draft, which takes place in just over a month. With that being said, the NFL combine has been going on this week. This is the time when college players trying to make it to the pros go through a series of drills to try and impress professional coaches in hope that they will become drafted once that comes around. As I've mentioned earlier, I'm a big Tennessee fan so I have to throw in their that a few or our prospects have been impressive at the combine. As well as the Clemson players that may sound a little more familiar to you (DeAndre Hopkins, Andre Ellington). It is a big time for these guys with the future careers on the line.
Next, Clemson baseball had an impressive weekend this weekend with a sweep over Wright State. With the game being rained out on Friday, the Tigers played a double header on Saturday, winning both of those, and finishing up in the beautiful weather that we had on Sunday with a third win and a sweep of the series. They improved their record to 5-1 after the weekend with a very important week ahead. Tuesday they will play a game against Winthrop here at Clemson, before their big series this weekend against South Carolina. Clemson will play the GameCockes Friday here at Clemson, Saturday in Greenville, and Sunday in Columbia.
This weekend was also a bit shocking in the golf world. The PGA Tour was in Arizona this weekend for the World Golf Championship. With this tournament being a match play tournament, there was much hope in the media that Tiger Woods and Rory McElroy (two of the sports best) would make a run into Sunday. However, both of them lost their matches on Thursday, and were knocked out of the tournament (possibly hurting TV ratings). Matt Kuchar went on to win the tournament by defeating Hunter Mahan in the finals on Sunday afternoon.
Finally, this weekend in NASCAR was very exciting (even though I'm not really much of a NASCAR fan). It started off in the qualifying when Danica Patrick posted the fastest time and put herself at the front of the pack to start the race. Friday, at the Nationwide race, there was a huge wreck (that always excites NASCAR fans) that injured many fans and caused quite a scare around the track. The big race then on Sunday at Daytona was won by Jimmy Johnson, with Danica Patrick making a push and keeping it close to make it interesting.

This week in Sports- Week 2

As all of the football excitement wraps up until it starts again next season, and basketball season soon to be coming to an end, the spring brings a whole new array of events in the sporting world.
Clemson Baseball is finally underway with its opening weekend happening this past weekend. The team started its season off with a three game home stand against William and Mary. After a big opening day win on Friday, the Tigers were disappointing on Saturday when they were handed a big loss. Luckily they came back Sunday with a late rally in order to take their opening series of the year.
Clemson Basketball has had back to back home games where the the ball just can't seem to bounce our way. Starting last Sunday, they lost at the buzzer to NC State after leading the whole game. Then this Sunday, the number 3 team in the country, Miami, came into town. It was a low scoring affair that Clemson seemed to have control of once again for just about the whole game. Miami made a run at the end to take the lead leaving Clemson with a last second shot that we just could not seem to find a way to get it in the basket. Luckily they picked up a win mid week at Georgia Tech to avoid losing three games in a row.
Onto professional sports, the NBA had its All-Star weekend this weekend. This weekend provides many different events (rising stars game, celebrity game, skills challenge, 3 point contest, dunk contest, and finally the actual All-Star game, not to mention all the musical performances that take place along with it). Many people were not impressed with the musical choices that performed throughout the weekend, but then again you can never impress everyone. The West beat the East to win the All-Star game, and Chris Paul took the MVP honors. Now that the NBA's short break is over, they will begin playing again this week.
Ultimately, it is hard to back up the weekend after the Super Bowl, but the sports world is continuously giving us something to watch and talk about.