Sportsman of the Week Ending 7/13/2025

Summer is a wide world of sports indeed with warm, outdoor temperatures drawing a variety of sports, fans, and winners.  Two times in eight days, NASCAR road king and rookie Shane Van Gispergen dominated the field to go to easy wins.  This week at Sonoma, the New Zealand wheelman Gispergen (commonly called SVG) took the Toyota/Save Mart 350.  Coming from Australian Supercar Series, SVG started NASCAR last year in the Xfinity (lower) circuit while running some road courses to full time Cup Series and won his first race in Chicago's street course in 2024.  This year he took a race in Mexico City, repeated in Chicago, and now in Sonoma.  All cars being equal, he and his 88 hot rod can't be beat on road courses.  Only in his first full season Gisbergen won for the fourth time in 34 starts, becoming the quickest to four wins since Parnelli Jones won at Riverside in 1967 in his 31st Cup start.  This win thrusts him to 3rd overall in the playoff standings despite being essentially non-competitive on ovals.  One of the playoff courses is a road course, can SVG parlay that into a shot at the Cup?  Depends on his oval skills, but he's a great drive and learning.  Shane Van Gispergen is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 7/6/2025

As the calendar turns to July, the summer variety of sports season starts, with Baseball, Golf, Tennis, and Soccer taking center stage.  No bigger soccer stage than the Gold Cup settling North America's greatest eleven.  Not surprisingly, the United States and Mexico weaved their way through the group and knockout rounds for a winner take all brawl in Houston.  And a brawl it was.  Estados Unidos struck quickly for a 1-0 lead within the first five minutes, and the crowd went wild.  But that was all the goals they would score.  In the 27th minute, veteran Raul Jimenez netted El Tri first goal on a soft entry and defense and punch of what would be two.  He was the one who scored the lone goal for Mexico in the semifinal to defeat Honduras 1-0 as well.  Mexico finished the task in the last 15 minutes to retain the Cup.  No glory in the United States, the Cup is to Mexico and the Sportsman of the Week goes to Jimenez.