Sportsman of the Week Ending 7/15/2018

To win one of the greatest championships in your sport is quite an accomplishment.  To do it after an injury from which few thought you would ever get back to the top?  Career defining.  Novak Djokovic is already a legend of modern tennis, with 13 majors titles, but it seemed as if father time was catching up to the Djoker.  After 5 major titles in 6 tournaments in 2015 and first half of 2016, he seemed to have lost it.  The second half of 2017 he sat out recovering from injury.  He started Wimbledon as the #12 seed, but ended up number one.  His toughest match was the semifinals against #2 seed Rafael Nadal for which he won a tiebreak, then the fifth set 10-8.  Other than that, he only dropped 3 sets, none in the final to Kevin Anderson.  As Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are toward the end of their careers (against which, he has a winning record against both), it looks like Djokovic isn't going anywhere.  And for the second time, he is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week.

Sportsman of the Week Ending 7/8/2018

While this Blog recognizes a Sportsman of the Week, this is closer to recognizing a simple Sportsman of the Day.  Mark Reynolds of the Washington Nationals had an historic day on Saturday.  Ten RBI in a single day.  That's a decent month for many players, and a good week for the best players.  In his performance, he hit two home runs, a double, two singles, and did I mention the TEN RBI?  The day before he hit a pinch hit walk off home run.  The next day, a single and a double and a walk.  So it wasn't just one day.  But Mark Reynolds certainly raised eyebrows with his performance on Saturday and is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 7/1/2018

The FIFA World Cup continues with new stars (and new scapegoats) in every match.  In a thrilling knockout round opening day, one of the most anticipated round of 16 matchups was Argentina with the best player in the world Lionel Messi against France, featuring professional star Paul Pogba.  But it would be neither of these that would be the man of the match.  Kylian Mbappe of France announced his presence on the World Stage with two huge goals in the see-saw affair.  The 19-year old scored twice in the second half, the first to break a 2-2 tie at 64', then again just 4 minutes later in the 68' to push the Les Bleus up 4-2, a lead that secured the world quarterfinals.  Mbappe's first goal was a nifty move in traffic to create space and strike the ball just under the goalie.  The second was on a long attack in which he made no doubt of the goal from the right.  Mbappe looks all the part of international soccer legend, and is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 6/24/2018

World Cup 2018 is dominating the world sports stage and new stars are already emerging.  While some favorites have struggled out of the gate (Germany, Brazil), England has taken care of business behind their superstar and Golden Boot candidate striker Harry Kane.  In his first World Cup, the superstar is already doing things that Lion legends before him could not.  Like 5 goals in 2 games.  In the World Cup opener, Kane struck twice against Tunisia including a stoppage time game winner (2-1), then followed it up with a hat trick 3 goals against hapless Panama (6-1).  The 24 year old from the Walthamstow borough of London, England by way of professional club Tottenham Hotspur may be the answer to England's 52 year World Cup drought.  After a relatively meaningless game to wrap up pool play against Belgium this week (both teams are through to the knockout round), the competition will step up and we'll see if the young Brit can match.  But for this week, Kane is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 6/17/2018

Winning one is nice.  Defending a championship is golden.  Especially the United States Champion.  But Brooks Koepka held back a talented field over tough (some might say impossible) conditions to defend his 2017 United States Open Championship with a second title.  And he did it without much drama, needing only a bogie on 18 of Tommy Fleetwood who had been in the clubhouse for hours.  As the field faded on the back nine where birdies were scarce at Shinnecock Hills, Koepka remained poised, driving long, hitting greens, and saving putts and par.  And is now the 2018 United States Open Championship.  Still only 28 years old, he may have several more majors in his future.  But he is our Sportsman of the Week!

Sportswoman of the Week Ending 6/10/2018

An action packed week of sports saw two of the major four North American team sports settle their titles, along with a Triple Crown winner.  But we turn to tennis for this week.  Simona Halep captured the 2018 French open and became the first Romanian to win a tennis Grand Slam final since 1978 (and is our first Romanian Sportswoman of the Week).  Halep is the World's Number 1 player and after three prior Grand Slam finals defeats, finally broke through against American Sloane Stephens after going down a set.  The only other set she lost in the tournament was to former Sportswoman of the week Angelique Kerber while dominating other prominent and ranked ladies players like Garbine Muguruza and Elise Mertens.  Halep is the next big star in ladies tennis, and is the Longhorndave Sportswoman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 6/3/2018

The Golden State Warriors appear poised for their third title in four years (would be four in four if not for blowing a 3-1 lead).  Warriors guard Stephen Curry appears better than ever.  In the biggest game of their season in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals, Curry slayed the top seeded Rockets in Houston with 27 points, including 7-15 from deep along with 9 boards, 10 assists, and 27 points.  The first two games of the NBA Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers, he's thus far averaging 31 points on 14-29 shooting from 3, including a record 9 three pointers made in Game 2.  Curry continues to be the engine that can't be stopped (doesn't hurt to have Durant and the rest of the supporting cast, but he is a worthy Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 5/27/2018

It's a tradition of this Blog to recognize a driver on Memorial Day Weekend, which is one of the top weekends in motor sports.  This year one of the greats just broke through on the biggest stage.  William Power has been one of the best drivers in Indy Car, but the Indianapolis 500 had always alluded him.  In what turned out to be the least predictable race, Power was able to outlast the few cars ahead of him that ran short on fuel, while keeping an aggressive fuel strategy himself to win the race without much challenge.  The Penske Racing Team driving Australian held off Ed Carpenter who finished second place but he was distant.  Like many athletes who achieve their pinnacle milestone later in their careers, the whispers of "greatest to never win the [big event]" are abated, and Power goes down in the annals of this Blog as Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 5/20/2018

Not sure to call it a Miracle on "Dice" or a Cinderella story, but the Las Vegas Golden Knights have turned the National Hockey League upside down.  The expansion team (usually finish last, hope to be respectable) are now the Western Conference Champions and bidding for their first Stanley Cup Championship.  In their first year.  It's been 25 years since a team from Canada has won the Cup.  The Washington Capitals have been trying to win the Stanley Cup for over 40 years with no luck.  But the Golden Knights are four wins away.  After dropping the Western Conference Finals Game 1 to the home-standing Winnipeg Jets, the Golden Knights won four straight games behind net-minder  Marc-Andre Fleury.  Fleury stonewalled the Jets allowing only 6 goals in four games.  The three-time Pittsburgh Penguins Stanley Cup winning goalie stopped 129 out of 135 shots (96%) with just 1.5 goals per game.  The Knights are a complete team without a lot of scoring weapons, but with Fleury in goal, it may be their year.  He is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 5/13/2018

As the weather heats up, so is major league baseball.  And no pitcher was hotter for nine innings than the Seattle Mariners James Paxton who threw the 2018 baseball season's second no hitter in a 99 pitch gem to shut down the potent Toronto Blue Jays.  Toronto as in Canada, and Paxton is Canadian, born in British Columbia.  Paxton has always shown dominant stuff, but has seemingly had to navigate injuries and inconsistency which has kept him from being elite.  But no longer.  Paxton retired the last 16 hitters (17 outs including a double play) and it looked like the Jays could have played 18 innings without getting to him.  He joins the elite no hitter fraternity and only the second Canadian to do so.  He's the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!