Sportsman of the Week Ending 5/12/2019

The weather is warming up, and that means baseball season.  The Oakland A's aren't off to a strong start, but starting pitcher Mike Fiers sure gave the fans a show.  For the second time in his career, he completed nine innings without a batted ball in play resulting in a batter reaching base that wasn't scored an error.  In other words, he pitched a no hitter.  Fiers only walked 2 batters while a third baserunner reached on an error.  And he needed to keep the bases clean to protect a 2-0 lead (only 1-0 when he took the mound in the 7th).  Further adding to the unusual event was that the game was delayed 90 minutes due to a malfunctions in the lights.  Maybe the Reds bats fell asleep and never woke up.  But really, Fiers proved he could do it on his first no hitter in 2015, and backed it up against the Reds.  Mike Fiers is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 5/5/2019

The Conference semifinals are going down to the wire in several series.  Except one.  The Carolina Hurricanes, fresh off of a dispatch of the defending Stanley Cup Champion Washington Capitals, continued their winning streak and crushed the New York Islanders in four straight games.  Led by Teuvo Teravainen, the Canes showed no mercy.  After clutch 1-0 and 2-1 wins on Long Island, the red hot Canes lit the Isles up for 10 goals over the last two games.  Teravainen netted 2 goals in Game 3, and added a goal and assist in Game 4.  Overall, he skated to a +5 +/-.  For the playoffs, he's netted 6 goals in 11 games.  A young Finnish leader of a budding dynasty, our Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 4/28/2019

The NBA playoffs are winnowing down to the elite, and one of the elite that's been underrepresented is the Portland Trailblazers Damian Lillard.  The veteran guard without superstar help, has continuously led his teams to playoff berths, and in this case, dramatic victories.  Lillard had what many have called one of the best playoff games in NBA history.  In a closeout game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Lillard delivered the fatal blow.  A 37-foot cold blooded 3 pointer in a tie game.  This capped off a 50 point masterpiece, in which he hit 10-18 three-pointers.  Will this be the year that the Blazers surge to a Western Conference Final?  Lillard will be tough to beat.

Sportsman of the Week Ending 4/21/2019

One of the lower key best times of the sports year is the first round of the NHL and NBA playoffs.  With sixteen teams and eight matchups in each, ever weeknight is filled with action on multiple channels to follow.  And at least in the NHL, upsets are common.  The Colorado Avalanche had relatively low expectation coming into the season.  In fact, they had not made it out of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 9 years.  But as the six seed, they knocked off the Pacific Division Champion Calgary Flames in a swift five games.  The Avs took a body blow in Game 1 lowing 4-0, but then ran off four straight, including two on the road.  It helped to have Mikko Rantanen as the star.  The 22 year-old racked up 5 goals and 2 assists in the final 3 games, including the overtime Game 4 winner to send the Avs up 3-1 instead of tied 2-2.  Rantonen along with his sidekick 23 year-old Nathan MacKinnon have the Avs poised for many more runs, and it won't be another nine years before they get past the first round.  Maybe not before they win a Stanley Cup!  Mikko Rantanen is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 4/14/2019

There is no question what the biggest story in sports this week was.  And it wasn't the NBA or NHL playoffs, or MLB.  We're talking Tiger.  Tiger Woods.  Maybe you remember him.  In the Masters, the biggest PGA tournament of the year, he won his fifth Green Jacket.  And 15th Major.  He did it by emerging from a star-studded field, including 2018 major champion Brooks Koepka and Francesco Molinari along with Dustin Johnson, Tony Finau, and Webb Simpson.  But it was Tiger who down the back stretch, was nails.  He went from tied to 2 strokes ahead as other contenders made mistake after mistake.  On the 18th hole, he needed a 5 bogey to win.  He took all five.  Greatness was returned, as Tiger won his first major in 11 years and fifth masters to go with 1997, 2001, 2002, and 2005.  Amazing to think the fans born the first year he won The Masters are at most 21 years old.  And here we are with Tiger Woods back on top.  Enjoy it fans.  It's what sports is about.  And Tiger Woods is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 4/8/2019

The Virginia Cavaliers won their first Men's NCAA Basketball Championship and it was due in large part to a balanced guard attack as they survived late surges and drama in the Sweet 16 and Final 4.  But it was Junior Ty Jerome who filled the stat sheet more than most.  The 6'5" Jerome led the Hoos with 14 assists total in the last two games, but surprisingly notched 15 rebounds while scoring 37 points of his own over the two games, well above his 13.6 PPG regular season average.  This was coming off a 24 point performance in the Regional Finals, he simply was the engine that led Virginia to their first National Championship and is our Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 3/31/2019

The Madness of March is dying down now that we're in April, but the Auburn Tigers have redefined the role of unexpected party-crasher.  Having beat the Big 12 powerhouse Kansas in the second round of the NCAA tournament, they faced the top seeded ACC North Carolina Tar Heels in the Sweet 16.  Led by Jared Harper and 11 assists and 9 points in 25 minutes, the Tigers separated quickly from Carolina for a 97-80 victory.  But it was in the Elite 8 against another powerhouse and fellow SEC rival Kentucky that Harper really shined.  He poured in 26 points, highlighted by 11-11 from the free throw line (and 12 points in overtime out of his team's 17 total) to defeat the Cats and avenge their last loss on February 23.  Yes.  They haven't lost in over a month.  The Tigers look poised to beat their next Goliath and it will be on the leadership of our Sportsman of the Week, Jared Harper!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 3/24/2019

The effort of the reigning National Basketball Association MVP cannot be ignored.  James Harden has willed the Houston Rockets from outside looking into the playoffs early in the season to a strong hold on the third seed while setting scoring records not discussed since Wilt Chamberlain.  Harden is averaging an astronomical (get it, Rockets) 36.4 points per game.  Second place is 28.2 (Paul George, OKC).  For context, the distance from 1st to 2nd (8.2 points) is larger than the distance from 2nd to 33th (Nikola Jokic, DEN, at 20.2).  This week, Harden scored 177 points over 4 games (44.25 average, team went 3-1 ), including a 61 point effort (matching his career high) and a 57 point effort in back to back games.  These were two of his eight 50 point games.  The rest of the league combined only has ten.  Over the week, he was 28-53 on 3 pointers, well over 50% for a stretch not being hesitant while the other team knows it's his game.  Harden may just will the Rockets to their 3rd World Championship and first in nearly 25 years.  He is our Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 3/17/2019

March is for NCAA basketball Madness and it starts with the conference tournaments.  After 2+ months of beating each other up in the regular season, every conference goes to a major city in its region to battle again over the weekend to determine who is the champion, or at least the other champion and get that automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.  In rare cases does it matter for a major conference in terms of the berth, but for the Duke Blue Devils, it was time for revenge.  Led by the acclaimed most talented freshman in college basketball Zion Williamson, the Dookies avenged regular season losses to Syracuse (quarterfinals) and North Carolina (semifinals) before dispatching of Florida State for the ACC conference title.  Williamson, who hadn't played in 3 weeks since he blew out a shoe and hurt his knee in a second regular season loss to North Carolina, led the way.  Over the three games, Zion poured in 33 field goals on 43 shots, including 3-6 beyond the arc to average 27 points and 10 rebounds in a dominating effort.  Zion looks poised to lead Duke to their potential sixth national championship and first in 4 years, and it looks like he may not be stopped.  Zion Williamson is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 3/10/2019

The spring sports season is filled with a lot of variety, and the NHL regular season is winding down with stars emerging.  The Florida Panthers left wing star Jonathan Huberdeau netted 9 points, all in his last 3 games as his team went 2-1 as they try to angle for a Wild Card spot.  Huberdeau has reached the 20 goal plateau for the 3rd time in 4 years, and his 74 points are a career high.  Hard to believe he is in his 7th year as a 25 year old, he will surely be a force for future years.  And is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!