Sportsman of the Week Ending 9/19/2021

The first two weeks of the NFL has provided a number of tight games, upsets, surprises and top performances.  And upsets.  Two of the biggest wins so far have been executed by the Las Vegas Raiders led by our Sportsman of the Week Derek Carr.  Shuffled a tough schedule to start, hosting the formidable Baltimore Ravens on Monday Night Football, then travelling to menacing Pittsburgh for a noon start (over three time zones) to face the Steelers.  2-0.  After a thrilling overtime on Monday Night, including 10 points in the last 4 minutes, including a last minute FG drive for the tie, Carr led his team to a 33-27 victory essentially twice as a TD was overturned the Raiders survived a Ravens possession to win on a 31 yard TD pass.  Head to Sunday in Pittsburgh in which Carr led a workmanlike effort to down the Steelers with ease 26-17.  Two of their biggest contenders behind them, the Raiders schedule lightens up.  Carr has clocked a 66.7% completion rate, 817 yards (that's over 400 per game) and 4 TD.  The Raiders have vaulted themselves into contention in the AFC, two showdowns with the Kansas City Chiefs loom but Derek Carr is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week! 

This is Derek Carr's second Sportsman of the Week honor and at eight years, believed to be the longest duration between as he was the 91st Sportsman of the Week in 2013!

Sportswoman of the Week Ending 9/12/2021

An exciting and unpredictable finish punctuated the 2021 United States Open (of Tennis) and the biggest surprise was on the ladies side of the bracket.  Youth was served as teenagers Leylah Fernandez (Canada) faced off against Great Britain's Emma Raducanu in what turned out to be a straight set victory for the latter. Raducanu became the first qualifier to make the Finals of the Open and didn't drop a set throughout the two week tournament.  She never even needed a tiebreak.  Fernandez did some heavy lifting in ousting favorites such as Naomi Osaka and Angelique Kerber and actually beat 3 of the Top 5 seeds.  But Raducanu was just too amazingly hot to stop.  Raducanu may be on the precipice of a stalwart career and is the Longhorndave Sportswoman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 9/5/2021

In the biggest game of the college football kickoff weekend, the biggest win was by the Georgia Bulldogs.  Led by their defense, they defeated the defending ACC Champions 10-3 in an effort that felt like the Tigers couldn't score if they had 40 quarters instead of four.  While the Bulldogs offense struggled, their defense struck for the only touchdown of the game in a big win over the Clemson Tigers 10-3.  Senior Chris Smith made a quick break on a ball and did the rest with his legs and blocks in scoring a classic "Pick-6" which was the difference in the game.  While certainly his effort wasn't the only part of the defensive domination, he represents the Dawgs in their big win and made a huge statement in being SEC East Favorites.  Chris Smith is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 8/29/2021

Football and tennis are kicking up for the fall, but baseball is still the National Pastime of summer.  And one of the greats of the game in a small market is getting the attention he deserves as one of the greatest at this position.  Not just this year.  But of all time.  Salvador Perez of the Kansas City Royals is rewriting the record books for a catcher right in front of our eyes.  We should open them and see.  He had as good a week as anyone in baseball this year.  Seven games, with home runs in six of them, 14 RBI, only 5 K, with 5 BB, and 10 hits in 28 AB.  Oh, and he led his young Royals team to a 4-3 record on the road against 2 playoff contenders over .500.  All adds up to a strong Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 8/22/2021

There may not be a more appropriate 500th Sportsman of the Week than to look to a man who hit his 500th Home Run this week.  You can't make this up.  Miguel Cabrera etched his name next to baseball elite when he clobbered his milestone home run.  He was a hero in 2003 when he emerged as a post season phenom in securing a world Series for the Florida Marlins, and now he puts another stamp on his Cooperstown passport in getting 500 home runs.  Cabrera clobbered number 500 against Toronto Blue Jays hurler Steven Matz in a game in which the Tigers won in a resurgent season as they rebuild.  Next up. 3000 hits hoping to become the (Aaron, Mays, Palmeiro, Murray, Rodriguez, Pujols, and two of those have some PED issues.)

Sportsman of the Week Ending 8/15/2021

It's been a while since we've featured a No Hitter in the Blog, but here we are again.  This time the rub is, there was no way to expect it.  The Arizona Diamondbacks are the worst team in baseball.  They have been in rebuild mode for a few years and this second half is just the dog days of summer.  So all the better to have something to reward their patient fans.  And Tyler Gilbert did just that.  In his first career start, he tossed a no hitter against playoff contending San Diego Padres.  It was the first pitcher to throw a no hitter in his first career start since 1953.  And with eight no hitters, the season with the most no hitters since 1900.  Without overpowering stuff, walking two, but no hits.  What a day for the Diamondbacks and for Gilbert and what a great day for Baseball.  Tyler Gilbert is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportswoman of the Week Ending 8/8/2021

What a fortnight in Tokyo as the world came together despite a global pandemic to celebrate the 2020 Olympics.  In 2021.  It's hard to nail down a single star, but one great athlete achieved something no American had done before.  Win 11 Olympic Medals in Track and Field.  Veteran Track superstar Allyson Felix, at her fifth Olympic games dating back to her 18 year-old debut in Athens in 2004 when she won a silver medal in the 200.  Felix snatched a bronze in the 400m individual, and gold in the 400m relay to leave Tokyo as the most decorated track athlete in American history.  The 400m relay represented a passing of the torch (no pun intended) as the anchor leg was ran by rising superstar Athing Mu, a 19 year-old who (do the math) was a two year old baby when Felix debuted in Athens.  Felix will go down as one of the greatest track athletes in what has been one of the greatest eras of women's track, and is a worthy Longhorndave Sportswoman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 8/1/2021

The first week of the Olympics is usually defined by swimming greatness, and the United States is historically a big player.  The Tokyo 2021 (err 2020) Olympics did not disappoint.  Caeleb Dressel led the American charge with a five Gold Medals across his myriad of events.  Exceeded in one Games only by American swimming legends Mark Spitz and Michael Phelps.  The best freestyle swimmer in the World, he won the 50m and 100m, while also collecting a Gold on the 4x100 freestyle relay.  Butterfly his next best stroke, winning the 100m and contributing to the epic medley relay Gold in which the United States has never lost but is facing larger and larger challenges.  Dressel won every event he entered besides the 4x100 mixed medley, a new event in which the United States finished a disappointing fifth.  In any event, Dressel has etched his name in United States Olympic history and is a worthy Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportswoman of the Week Ending 7/25/2021

Sports fans around the world has waited in anticipation for the quadrennial Summer Olympic Games and in these times, had to wait an extra year.  The Tokyo 2020 Olympics kicked off this weekend a year late without fans, but with the competition as fierce as ever.  One of the early surprises in the Games was the emergence of a young, American woman who won the first ever female gold medal for the United States in Taekwando.  Anastasija Zolotic of Colorado Springs, CO, bolted through the competition, beating the World #2 in the semifinals and World #4 in the final match.  The 18 year old Zolotic has surged to the top in winning junior competitions three years ago, and won a championship at the Pam Am Games in 2020.  Zolotic is probably a name you didn't know a week ago, but represented the United States well and is the Sportswoman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 7/18/2021

What a three weeks on the roads and mountains of France, as cycling's greatest event unfolded over an amazing backdrop.  A year after being postponed until fall, the Tour de France went back to its original schedule and put some normalcy back to cycling.  But the more things change, the more they stay the same.  2020 surprise winner (and prior Sportsman of the Week) left a lot less drama in this years tour, dominating from the first week through the parade on the Champs-Elysees in Paris to win back-to-back tours.  Slovenian Tadej Pogacar was a man among boys despite only being 22 years old.  A rare talent of unmatched climbing skills with ability to time trial and burst on a sprint stage with steel nerves makes it seem as if he may not lose for several years.  Several.  He won Stage 5 (time trial), took the Maillot Jaune on Stage 8, then won Stages 17 and 18 in the Pyrenees to make it easy.  There was no other rival.  He was a champion this year and will be a champion in years to come.  Our Sportsman of the Week!