Hits and Misses

Hits

Rose Gets Suspended – Thoroughbred jockey Jeremy Rose was suspended for 6 months last week for striking his horse in the face with his whip during a race. Rose was aboard Appeal to the City and struck the mare on the side of her head and the horse had some hemorrhaging around one eye. Rose claims, “I want everyone to know that this was an accident and not an intentional act on my part. I did not mean to hit her in the face.” Yea right pal. Horses are massive and you’re a jockey who has been riding for decades like you can’t tell where a horses shoulder stops and its face starts. It was the longest suspension in history handed out to a jockey which is good as it shows that this sort of behavior won’t be repeated.

Katie Hoff – 18 year old American swimming phenom Katie Hoff had an amazing week at the recent US Olympic Trials where she lowered her American records in the 200 freestyle and 200 individual medley, giving her four victories and three records at this meet. Hoff is best known for when she threw up on the pool deck at the 2004 Summer Olympics and has come a long way to become a dominant force in women’s swimming.

Power Shift - Michel Inoa is a 16 year old pitching prodigy from the Dominican Republic who signed a $4.5 million dollar deal with the Oakland Athletics this week signifying a possible changing of the guard. Iona was pursued by every team in the league but the A’s pulled through and signed the talented youngster by breaking the singing bonus mark previously set by the New York Yankees and Willy Mo Pena. The signing of Iona shows that small market teams are starting to break out the wallet and are willing to spend some money to make themselves better. It also shows that young quality players may be willing to play in other places than just the “big markets.”

Wimbledon Dominance – After being called out by Novak Djokovic the Worlds #1 tennis player Roger Federer has been amazing at the All England Club and has advanced to the semi-finals. On Wednesday he beat Mario Ancic 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 to extend all manner of streaks: 39 consecutive wins at Wimbledon, 64 consecutive wins on grass, and 17 consecutive semifinal appearances at Grand Slam tournaments. The man is flat out scary on grass and the eventual finals match between Federer and Rafael Nadal should be absolutely amazing.

Biggest Hit of the Week: The Pittsburgh Penguins sign the best defenseman in the NHL aka Brooks Orpik to a six-year, $22.5 million contract. The guy is an absolute beast and the most under-rated player in the game today yet he's still making less than Jeff Finger, for shame.


Misses

NHL Owners – I could have sworn there was a lockout a few years back because player contracts were out of control. Owners wanted a salary cap put in place to stop the salaries of players from getting too out of hand. Yet when Free Agency started on July 1st over $400 million in contracts was handed out on the first day alone. Players who have no business getting millions of dollars *cough* Jeff Finger *cough* were thrown ridiculous sums of money to bring their mediocre game to a new city. So 4 years removed from the lockout we are right back in the same spot where we started.

Favre Rumors – Can Brett Favre just retire or come back already? I love Brett Favre and I think whatever he decides to do is just fine by me but whatever he decides to do make that decision and stick with it already. I don’t want to be reading about how he may or may not return every damn week. Plus how does this make Aaron Rodgers feel? He finally gets the starting job in Green Bay and now he’s being challenged by someone who’s not even in the league anymore. I would love nothing more than to have Favre come back and break every record ever and get to the Super Bowl, losing to the Jets of course, but come on Brett make up your mind and leave it at that.

300 Club - Randy Johnson has 288 career wins in his MLB career which puts him just 12 away from the elusive 300 club. The problem? He started the year at 282 wins. He started the season 4-1 but since then has gone 0-6 and is representing an ERA of 5.46 and a WHIP of 1.51. The Big Unit, who turns 45 in September, doesn’t have much time left to try and get to the impressive milestone. He definitely won't reach 300 before his contract expires at the end of the season so hopefully he gets his chance with a team next year because not getting Randy Johnson to 300 wins would be a travesty.

Beer Goggles? – What is Alex Rodriguez thinking? Hey A-rod you’re the best baseball player on the planet and you’re going dump your hot wife to date Madonna. She is like 50 man be real. You are breaking things off with your wife who could be a supermodel and is the mother of your 2 children for a has-been pop singer. Tisk Tisk. People can’t get enough of this story and it bugs me to no end. This is sports not Hollywood. The only positive out of this whole thing is that now Guy Ritchie aka the best Film Maker ever can get a better wife as well also the tabloid headline that read “Stray-Rod” made me laugh.

Biggest Miss of the Week: PGA with no Tiger. Since Tiger Woods called it a season at the US Open there have been 2 events on the PGA Tour. Who won? I don’t know. Who cares? Nobody.