Sportsman of the Week Ending 5/10/2026

The late spring sports season continues with elite golf, horse racing, along with playoff basketball and hockey.  On the basketball side, the Oklahoma City Thunder seem poised for a back-to-back title.  Young and loaded.  While reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is consistent, it's been his big man so far to lead the Thunder to a 3-0 lead against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.  7'1" Chet Holmgren is an unstoppable force that the Lakers can't answer.  In the first three games of the Western Conference semifinals, Holgren has averaged 21 points, 10 rebounds, to go with 2 assists, 2 blocks, and 2 steals per game.  While shooting 60% from the field, 45% from 3-point land, and over 80% from the line.  Efficient.  Difference maker.  The Lakers can't finish a game within 15 points of the best team in the NBA.  Thanks to our Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 5/3/2026

Mid-spring is for horse racing, specifically the Triple Crown as the weather warms up and mid-latitude venues host the best 3-year-olds in the Sport of Kings.  And nothing captures the spirit more than the Kentucky Derby, run with a full entry as owners, trainers, and jockeys vie for greatness.  Sometimes a favorite wins.  And sometimes it's an underdog.  Horse, trainer, and jockey.  The 152nd running of the Run for the Roses was a wide-open field, and a long shot won coming from the back.  Eighteen horses made it to the post, and Golden Tempo won.  Golden Tempo started on the outside as the 19th draw and entered 18th at the stretch.  Jockey Jose Ortiz guided the colt to a thrilling and unexpected victory at 23-1 paying of handsomely to those with faith.  Ortiz has now won the personal Triple Crown, having won the Belmont Stakes (Tapwrit 2017) and Preakness Stakes (Early Voting 2022).  Winning the Personal Triple Crown, biggest horse race of the year, and doing it on a 23-1 longshot seems worthy of Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 4/26/2026

Late spring sports continue to peak, and a peak performance was delivered at the London Marathon.  In race conditions, the first human being in the history of running marathons finished under 2 hours.  A mark that was thought to be unobtainable has come to fruition.  And of course, done by a Kenyan, the elite runners on the planet.  29-year-old Sebastian Sawe torched the British Course 30 seconds under 2 hours, at 1:59:30.  To speak to the conditions, the second-place finisher, Yomif Kejelcha also finished under 2 hours.  Only 11 seconds too late to be the first, so settle for second place.  The pace is insane.  Every mile for 26.2 is 4:34.  A quarter mile in under 70s.  Sawe will be remembered like the four-minute mile and Roger Banister, perfect 10 for Nadia Comăneci, sub 10s 100m, and other major milestones and is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 4/19/2026

Spring sports is peak, with summer sports starting (baseball, golf), winter sports entering playoffs (hockey, basketball), and college sports reaching end of academic year.  It's baseball we go to this week.  The Chicago Cubs loaded up for a pennant run in 2026 but stumbled out of the block going 7-9 but are now on a 5-game winning streak a lot due to our Sportsman of the Week.  Infielder Nico Hoerner poured it on this week leading the Cubs to a 5-1 record and a sweep of the Rival New York Mets and taking 2 of 3 from the Phillies.  On Sunday, he had the walk off Sac Fly RBI.  For the recent 5-game winning streak, Hoerner went 9-23, 2 HR, 11 RBI leading the team to 10+ runs 3 of the games.  The Cubs are going to contenders, and if they can get a career year from the 28-year-old Hoerner, maybe a deep playoff run.  Nico Hoerner is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 4/12/2026

Another year, another green jacket.  A generational talent did generational things on the biggest stage as Rory McIlroy surged ahead, fought tough stretches, surges by competitors, was behind, then ahead, then finished.  One stroke ahead of Scott Scheffler.  That's what champions do.  McIlroy becomes only the fourth golfer to win back-to-back Masters championships joining legends like Nicklaus, Woods, and Faldo.  And in today's game, it's just more difficult.  He was also either first or tied for first after each round.  Impressive.  It wasn't a perfect performance, but the best in the biggest tournament as McIlroy won his second green jacket in two years and is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week for the third time!

Rory McIlroy Sportsman of the Week 2025

Rory McIlroy Sportsman of the Week 2014

Sportswoman of the Week Ending 4/5/2026

The NCAA tournament on the men's AND women's side have been amazing theater.  The big teams are winning when it counts, and UCLA has fit the bill on the women's side.  At 31-1 entering the tournament, the Bruins seemed to be about the fourth choice by betting favorites behind fellow number one seeds Connecticut, South Carolina, and Texas.  They made no match for two of three.  The Bruins played absolute clamp down defense and scored consistently to win by an average of 17 points, culminating in a 28 point beatdown of South Carolina in the Finals .  Led by our Sportswoman of the Week Lauren Betts.  In relative low scoring games, The 6'7" senior Betts scored 30 points in the Final Four, on efficient 13-20 from the field, perfect 4-4 from the line, 22 rebounds, 5 blocks, 5 assists, all of what it takes to win.  It was their first NCAA Championship for a program of proud sports tradition.  Betts and her team finished the season 37-1, and a worthy Longhorndave Sportswoman of the Week! 

Sportsman of the Week Ending 3/29/2026

The shot of the tournament.  Maybe the shot of the tournament in this century.  Heavyweight number one overall seed goes down on a miracle sequence.  This is why we love March Madness.  Connecticut and Duke went toe to toe in the East Regional Finals, two teams with a healthy number of NCAA Championship banners hanging from their rafters.  Despite what some say, NCAA tournament upsets are fun in the short term, but heavy weights going at it at the back end of the tournament is fun too.  Duke was comfortable leading by as many as 19 points as the top seed seemed to be in position to go to their third Final Four in six years.  They led 40-21 three quarters of the way through the first half.  Ten-point lead with 6 minutes left.  Four points and the ball with 90s left.  Two points and the ball with 10s left.  Then it all imploded.  The final sequence will never be forgotten.  Duke just needing to dribble it out throws a pass over a double team, tipped by Braylon Mullins.  Mullins recovers the ball, quick pass, pass back to Mullins, 35-footer.  Good!  It didn't even touch the rim.  Connecticut advances and Duke cries. May not have seen a final sequence like that since the Laettner win over Kentucky.  It's in March Madness Lore and Braylon Mullins is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week! 

Sportsman of the Week Ending 3/22/2026

March Madness is in full effect!  With fewer upsets than some wanted (I'm good with it, I want to see big boy heavyweight games downstream), one individual set an all-time NCAA record that is decades old.  Purdue guard Braden Smith hit 1077 career assists passing the sentimental Duke guard Bobby Hurley for most in NCAA history.  Hurley had the record for over 30 years.  One of only four players to have more than 1000 (Chris Corchiani and Ed Cota the other two).  He's an All-Big 10 first team selection for the third straight year.  Epitome of older school college basketball where your best players played through their eligibility and consistently go deep in the tournament.  Purdue is queued up for a Sweet 16 matchup against Texas, and should they play that they'll look for their second Final Four berth since 1980, the last of which was two years ago when they lost to Connecticut in the finals.  Experienced guard play is always key to deep tournament runs and Smith has that for Purdue.  He is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!  

Sportsman of the Week Ending 3/15/2026

An incredible sports week commenced with NCAA Basketball ramping up March Madness, and the World Baseball Classic entering knock out round, and NBA and NHL in the playoff push.  For the NBA, the most improbable, neigh impossible happened as Bam Adebayo reach the penultimate scoring game with 83 points in a regulation NBA game.  Yes, 83 points.  By math, that's 1.7 points per minute.  Rounds up to 2 points per minute he played.  Figuring each team gets a possession, maybe two per minute, incredible.  He got his shots, taking 43 and knocking down 20 in a high scoring win for his Miami Heat over the hapless Washington Wizards in a 150-129 win.  Seven of those made shots were from 3-point land for eh, a quarter of his points. But the main damage he did was from the free throw line getting 36 points in 43 attempts.  If you can't stop him, foul him.  He didn't tip toe around other statistics as well, getting 9 boards and actually passing 3 times for assists.  He also had a game high 2 blocks on the defensive end.  Few expect Adebayo to compete for an MVP or scoring title, but he only looks up to Wilt Chamberlain in terms of a single game total.  And his was on tape.  Adebayo is a worthy, Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 3/8/2026

Not all elite athletes are at the full-time professionals.  Some are electricians.  That is the case for this week's Sportsman of the Week.  Czech pitcher Ondřej Satoria has emerged as the best statistical pitcher in the World Baseball Classic Pool play.  The underdog Czech's were punching up in weight class in the Asian bracket, featuring MLB and Asian professional league laden Japan (defending WBC champions) and South Korea.  Satoria didn't flinch.  He dueled with emerging Japanese superstar Hiroto Takahashi for almost five innings of no run ball.  This was following a near 4 inning performance against a balanced Australian squad earlier also giving up no runs.  In total, 8 1/3 innings, 0 runs, and and ERA at 0.00 leading all pitchers in the Classic.  The very sportsmanship crowd in Japan tipped their hat, along with the Japanese players, to Satoria as he left the mound.  Czech might have gone 0-4 in what was a miracle run to make it, but Ondřej Satoria will be remembered as WBC legend.  The Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!