Sportsman of the Week Ending 8/7/2022

Another amazing week in Major League Baseball as the playoff picture continues to focus and teams, now after the trade deadline, make their sprint toward Division titles.  No team did more for their cause than the St. Louis Cardinals.  Let by Nolan Arenado, the Cardinals have won seven straight games, including sweeps of the rival Chicago Cubs and vaunted New York Yankees.  Arenado was unstoppable, batting .524 (11-21), with 8 runs, 3 HR, and 8 RBI in six games over the week.  The Cardinals averaged 5.5 runs per game which was more than enough to carry the week.  As the Cardinals surge into first place over their rival Brewers, Arenado shines as the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 7/31/2022

Baseball takes center stage as we transition toward late summer before the fall sports start.  And nobody has been a better hitter in baseball than Aaron Judge.  The Free Agent to be is putting together an historic season (that surely will result in a huge payday from the New York Yankees or otherwise).  Judge continued to torment pitching with another amazing week, netting him his second American League Player of the Week in a row.  This week, Judge was 8-23, with 5 HR, 7 runs and 10 RBI in six games.  For the season, up to 42 HR and 91 RBI, a great season and there is two months left!  Will he surpass the Yankees team record of 61 Home Runs?  Will he win the MVP over Shohei Ohtani?  Odds are yes to both, but Judge is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 7/24/2022

Another week, another major European sporting event leads to our weekly honors.  This time, on the Champs-Elysees in Paris.  After three weeks of grueling mountain climbs, sprints, and time trials, the Tour de France wrapped up with a surprise first time Champion.  Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark defeated the two-time defending champion Tadej Pogacar in several thrilling climbing duels over the Tour.  Stage 11 proved to be the decisive blow in the Alps, as Vingegaard and his Jumbo Visma teammates outnumbered Pogacar and gapped him by nearly 3 minutes which was more than enough to take the Maillot Jaune for good.  Pogacar attacked as he could the remainder of the tour, but Vingegaard was too much.  Pogacar settles for the white jersey for best young rider, and Vingegaard thrusts himself into Tour de France immortality and is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 7/17/2022

Another week, another trophy for winning a major British tournament.  This time, The Open Championship held at the Old Course in St. Andrew's, Scotland.  Not just any Open Championship, the 150th Open Championship.  With a field full of the world's best golfers (now across two major tours), it was a first-time major winner that stole the stage.  Cameron Smith surged on Sunday from the second-to-last group to overtake the two Saturday clubhouse leaders clear by two strokes.  Turns out, his biggest competition was from his pairing partner, Cameron Young.  The two Cameron's surged past former Open Champion and four-time Majors winner Rory McIlroy and his pair Viktor Hovland to win first and second.  But it was the Australian Cameron who took the Claret Jug.  Smith posted his second 64 in the last three rounds to finish an astounding 20 under par.  This was after his putter largely abandoned him on Saturday or it would have been even more of a runaway.  The 28-year-old smallish Smith with the wispy mustache and Joe Dirt hair showed he can play with all of golf's big boys and is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportswoman of the Week Ending 7/10/2022

The Wimbledon (tennis) Championships is always one of the most elite titles in sports and 2022 delivered the first normal tournament in 3 years.  It's not often that a lower seed runs through the brackets, but just that happened on the Ladies side.  Elena Rybakina entered the tournament at approximate 100:1 odds to shock the tennis world and win the Championships.  Rybakina did not exactly storm through the 128-lady field, needing either a tiebreak or third set to win five of her seven matches.  Including twice in the final three matches going down one set to love.  In the finals against favoured Ons Jabeur, the Kazakh established superiority with consecutive 6-2 sets to raise the trophy.  The Championships were her first tournament win since 2020 and only her third in her career.  Is the 23-year-old just coming into her own or just put it together for one week?  Time will tell, but she is the Longhorndave Sportswoman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 7/3/2022

July means baseball takes center stage after an exciting postseason of NBA and NHL.  Don't worry, we still have plenty of room for Wimbledon, The Open, Tour de France and other sports.  But as we roll through the Independence Day holiday, we give a nod to baseball.  Albeit a Dominican Republic rookie.  Julio Rodriguez of the Seattle Mariners is quickly establishing himself as the American League Rookie of the Year and a superstar to come.  This week, Rodriguez hit 9-25 (.360).  Add 3 HR, 6 runs, and 6 RBI.  All while fueling a 5-2 record as the Mariners battle up the Wild Card standings for their first playoff appearance in 22 years.  Rodriguez will make the playoffs, it's just a matter of this year or the next few.  And he's a worthy Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 6/26/2022

What a week for hockey with exciting Stanley Cup Finals games resulting in a new Champion winning it for the franchise since 2001.  The Colorado Avalanche followed up their second straight Western Conference top seed with a (pardon the overuse) Avalanche through the playoffs.  They finished the grueling postseason at 16-4, with two sweeps and two 6 game series wins, never facing elimination or even losing two in a row.  The Finals they were led by their first line center, Nathan MacKinnon in a thrilling victory against the two-time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning.  The former number one overall draft pick finished the week with 2 goals and 2 assists, but both his goals came in one goal wins, when it counted.  MacKinnon logged over 22 minutes per game all four, with the steady hand to lead his team to raising the Cup.  Congratulations to our Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 6/19/2022

A thrilling weekend of golf culminated with a surprise United States Open champion fending off both veterans and younger players alike.  27-year-old Matt Fitzpatrick dazzled on Sunday, outlasting several strong contenders like John Rahm and Scott Scheffler.  But it was Will Zalatoris who's hunger for his first major proved the last opponent standing.  Fitzpatrick played near flawless golf, hitting every green and ensuring success with a great shot on 18.  Zalatoris had a long-shot birdie putt that missed by an inch and Fitzpatrick won his first tournament in the Americas, and his first major.  Consistency was the Englishman's calling card all weekend, with a 68-70-68-68 to finish 6-under par.  An effort more than worthy of Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 6/12/2022

What a weekend of college baseball action culminating in the College World Series field of eight worthy teams.  National seeds went by the wayside Super Regional after Super Regional as only two (Stanford and Texas A&M) made it through to Omaha.  One of the teams that spoiled the national seed party was the Texas Longhorns, who spoiled East Carolina's attempt at their first College World Series bid with a thrilling three game series win.  Led by the most prodigious home run hitter in the BBCOR (bat-ball coefficient restitution) era of college baseball history, Ivan Melendez.  The "Hispanic Titanic" hit his 31st and 32nd home runs of the season (in 65 games) passing legends like Kris Bryant and even pre BBCOR Mark McGwire.  The Longhorns started the season ranked Number 1 and got into brutal Big 12 conference play but emerged no worst for the wear and back in Omaha for the 38th appearance, the most all time.  Melendez is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 6/5/2022

The Stanley Cup Playoffs continue to march toward a champion, and the New York Rangers are a team that few expected to make a strong run yet are positioned to make their first Stanley Cup Finals since 2014.  And their strong point has been goaltending.  By Igor Shesterkin.  The Russian wall has kept opponents at bay, winning 3 games out of 4 this week.  It started with a clutch 6-2 victory in the Eastern Conference Semifinals Game 7 against the Carolina Hurricanes on the road in Raleigh, NC, where the Rangers had not won all series and were huge underdogs.  Then, starting Games 1 and 2 at home at Madison Square Garden, he held the two-time defending Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning to 2 goals in each game for clutch 6-2/3-2 victories in both.  Three wins on the week and a smooth 2 GAA with a save percentage over 94.5%.  Will the Rangers win their first Cup in over 25 years?  If so, it will be Shesterkin that will be the cornerstone, our Sportsman of the Week!