The Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in Red Deer announced its 2013 Hall of Fame class on Thursday.
On the list this year are Olympic medallists Jeremy Wotherspoon of Red Deer and Blythe Hartley of Edmonton, Paralympic medallist Dean Kozak of Edmonton, chuckwagon driver Jason Glass of High River, former Alberta Sports Hall of Fame Chairman and Hockey Alberta President Orest Korbutt of Edmonton, former Lethbridge Collegiate Institute basketball and football coach Jim Whitelaw, former University of Alberta women’s field hockey coach Dr. Dru Marshall of Edmonton, former Major League Baseball pitcher Chris Reitsma of Calgary, rodeo pioneers Earl Bascom and Raymond Knight of Raymond and fly fishing writer Bob Scammell of Red Deer.
Wotherspoon, a speed skater, won an Olympic silver medal in the men’s 500m at the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano. Hartley, a diver, won an Olympic bronze meal with Emilie Heymans of Montreal in the women’s 10m synchronized platform diving event at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Kozak, was a silver medallist in men’s goalball at the 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta.
This week on the show we’re talking World Juniors, the NHL lockout (of course!), Adrian Peterson’s big season & we take a look at Wildcard Weekend in the NFL.
In the GABBYs: The London Knights, the LA Clippers, Adrian Peterson, US customs, the Atlanta Braves & Avery Johnson. The Punchline this week is the Memphis Grizzlies!
The Pittsburgh Pirates are hoping that Russell Martin of Toronto, Ontario is able to duplicate his all-star seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2007 and 2008.
On Friday, the Pirates signed Martin to a two year contract worth $17 million, significant when you take a look at the Canadian’s poor performances the last two seasons with the New York Yankees. He only batted .237 in 2011 and .211 in 2012.
The Pirates are trying to upgrade a position from last season where former Blue Jay Rod Barajas only batted .206. Still even though Martin was extremely inconsistent, he did hit 21 home runs this season and had a big home run late in a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Divisional Series.
In other baseball news, the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals acquired centerfielders over the last two days. The Braves acquired B.J. Upton (.246, 28 HR, 78 RBIs) from the Tampa Bay Rays and the Nationals acquired Denard Span (.283, 4 HR, 41 RBIs) from the Minnesota Twins. Upton’s contract is for five years where he will make $75.5 million.
The year 2012 may be considered as the year sports fans will always remember for awful officiating.
First in soccer, then football, and now baseball.
Last night, in the National League wildcard play-in game (the very first of its kind), one of the most bizarre events ever materialized in a professional baseball game.
With the St. Louis Cardinals leading the Atlanta Braves 6-3 in the eighth inning, umpire Sam Holbrook called Braves rookie shortstop Andrelton Simmons out on the infield fly rule. However there were two key problems. The ball landed in the outfield, no where near the infield, and the play was called very late by Holbrook, something that is never done when an infield fly rule is called.
For the seventh time this season, pitcher has thrown a no-hitter in Major League Baseball. On Friday night, Homer Bailey of the Cincinnati Reds struck out ten and walked one in a 1-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Bailey joins Philip Humber of the Chicago White Sox, Jered Weaver of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Johan Santana of the New York Mets, Matt Cain of the San Francisco Giants, Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners and a six pitcher effort by Seattle.
The Reds are one of four teams that have qualified for the postseason. They are joined by the National League East champion Washington Nationals, National League West champion San Francisco Giants and the National League wildcard champion Atlanta Braves.
In other baseball news, the Cleveland Indians have fired manager Manny Acta and named Sandy Alomar Jr. his replacement. The Houston Astros have also named Bo Porter their 2013 manager. Porter is currently the third base coach for the Washington Nationals.
The Calgary Stampeders and Saskatchewan Roughriders will battle this afternoon at Regina’s Mosaic Stadium (Saturday, TSN, 1pm). Both teams are 3-4 on the year, and are tied for third place in the western division.
The Roughriders got out of the gate quickly, winning their first three games before losing their last four, while the Stampeders haven’t gone on any significant run throughout the season. They haven’t been able to put two consecutive wins together all season long.
The Roughriders meanwhile will try to get revenge on a Stampeders team which came back from a 35-18 deficit to win in overtime 41-38 on July 19 at McMahon Stadium.
One of the most remarkable comebacks in sports history happened on Friday night in Washington.
Down 9-0 after five innings, the Braves stormed back to outscore the Nationals 10-1 in the last four innings before winning 11-10 in extra innings.
Dan Uggla led the Braves attack by going three for four, scoring four runs and recording the game winning run in the eleventh inning.
With the win, the Braves improve to 51-41, and are 2.5 games back of the Nationals in the National League East. The two teams will also play a very intriguing doubleheader on Saturday (11am and 5pm on Peachtree TV).
Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
The Los Angeles Kings are one win away from capturing their very first Stanley Cup. On Saturday night the Kings will play the New Jersey Devils (CBC, 6pm) leading the Finals 3-1.
The Devils meanwhile are taking a game-by-game approach according to all-star goaltender Martin Brodeur. In game four, the Devils had a solid third period and stayed alive with a 3-1 win. For the Devils to make the Stanley Cup Finals interesting, they will need a solid performance from Ilya Kovalchuk, who only has one goal in four games so far, and that one went into an empty net.
The Kings are getting great production from Drew Doughty, who leads all blueliners with 14 playof points.
One player though nobody is talking about is New Jersey’s defenceman Bryce Salvador who has 13 points. Just how unexpected has Salvador’s point production been? Well his NHL regular season career high came in 2009 when he had 16 points in 76 games!
The St. Louis Cardinals have named a former Toronto Blue Jay catcher as their next manager.
On Monday, the Cardinals named Mike Matheny manager to replace the retired Tony La Russa.
Matheny batted .215 with the Blue Jays in 1999, with three home runs and seventeen runs batted in 57 career games.
He also played with the Milwaukee Brewers, Saint Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants in a career from 1994 to 2006.
But the real question surrounding Matheny is his lack of managerial experience. Matheny had worked with the Cardinals the last three years as a minor league instructor and special assistant in player development.
In other baseball news, Atlanta Braves’ Craig Kimbrel has named the National League Rookie of the Year. Kimbrel, the team’s closer had 46 saves (record for rookies) and an earned run average of 2.10 last year. Meanwhile, Tampa Bay Rays’ starting pitcher Jeremy Hellickson has been named the American League Rookie of the Year. Hellickson was 13-10, with 117 strikeouts and an earned run average of 2.95.
Also, former Montreal Expos’ starting pitcher Charlie Lea passed away Friday at the age of 54. Lea pitched for the Expos from 1980-1984 and again in 1987. On May 9, 1981, Lea was the first French-born pitcher to throw a no-hitter as Montreal defeated San Francisco 4-0. He was also only the second Expo to throw a no-hitter, following Bill Stoneman who did it twice. Dennis Martinez was the only other Expo to throw a no-hitter in 1991.
The Cleveland Indians tried to improve their starting rotation on Monday with the acquisition of starting pitcher Derek Lowe from the Atlanta Braves for minor league pitcher Chris Jones.
Lowe, 38 years old, only went 9-17 last season with an earned run average of 5.05. The Indians will hope Lowe pitches more like he did in 2010, when he won 16 games, and helped the Braves qualify for the National League playoffs.
This will be Lowe’s fifth team since 1997, as he has also played for the Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers.
While with the Dodgers in 2006, he led the National League in wins with 16.
Starting his career in the bullpen, Lowe led the Boston Red Sox in saves in 2000 with 42. A two-time all-star, Lowe made the switch from the bullpen to the starting rotation in 2002 and had instant success, as he threw a no-hitter that year against the Tampa Bay Rays. In 2004, he won a World Series with the Red Sox.
Unbelievable. Tonight’s Major League Baseball action was truly not only unbelievable but one of the most memorable nights in regular season history for any sport in any league.
The Boston Red Sox, despite a nine game lead in the American League Wildcard hunt on September 2 are out.
The Atlanta Braves, despite an eight and a half game lead in September in the National League Wildcard hunt are out.
In their place are the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League and the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League.
What the Rays were able to do this evening was truly the unthinkable. They were once down 7-0 to the New York Yankees in the eighth inning, but stormed back with six runs in the eighth inning, a two out home run in the ninth inning by Dan Johnson and then a game winning home run by Evan Longoria that was fair in matters of inches down the left field line.
Boston meanwhile got a rare blown save by closer Jonathan Papelbon, and lost 4-3 to the Baltimore Orioles, despite leading 3-2 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning.
In the National League, the Cardinals smoked the Houston Astros 8-0 on a brilliant pitching performance by Chris Carpenter and then saw the Philadelphia Phillies come back to beat and eliminate the Atlanta Braves 4-3 in 13 innings.
Amazing night for baseball. One any sports fan will remember forever.
In the American League, Tampa Bay will play Texas and the New York Yankees will play Detroit in the Divisional Series. While in the National League, Milwaukee will play Arizona and Saint Louis will play Philadelphia.
It will be a dramatic night in Major League Baseball this evening as the American League Wildcard and National League Wildcard races have come down to the wire.
The Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals are tied for the National League Wildcard while the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox are tied for the American League Wildcard.
The Braves host the National League East champion Philadelphia Phillies tonight, while the Cardinals visit the Houston Astros, the only team in Major League Baseball that has lost 100 games this season.
The Red Sox meanwhile will visit the Baltimore Orioles, while the Tampa Bay Rays will host the American League East champion New York Yankees.
The advantage simply goes to Boston and St. Louis because they have the easier matchup.
The Yankees and the Phillies are already joined in the playoffs by the very surprising Arizona Diamondbacks, the Texas Rangers, Milwaukee Brewers, and Detroit Tigers.
Here are the pitching matchups:
Boston @ Baltimore (Boston– Jon Lester 15-9, 3.49 ERA, Baltimore–Alfredo Simon 4-9, 4.85 ERA)
NY Yankees @ Tampa Bay (NY Yankees–Dellin Betances 0-0, 27.00 ERA, Tampa Bay–David Price 12-13, 3.35 ERA)
Philadelphia @ Atlanta (Philadelphia–Joe Blanton 1-2, 5.03 ERA, Atlanta–Tim Hudson 16-10, 3.23 ERA)
St. Louis @ Houston (St. Louis–Chris Carpenter 10-9, 3.59 ERA, Houston–Brett Myers 7-13, 4.31 ERA)
Touchdown Atlantic goes for the second year on Sunday and for the second consecutive season a CFL team from Alberta will be involved. In Moncton, New Brunswick on Sunday, the Calgary Stampeders (7-4) will play the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (5-6). The game is a home game for the Tiger-Cats, who are coming off a lackluster performance against the Edmonton Eskimos in a 38-23 defeat. The Calgary Stampeders also struggled mightily last week, falling to the B.C. Lions 32-19.
The Stampeders defeated the Tiger-Cats 32-20 on August 6. Henry Burris threw for 341 yards.
Last year in Moncton, the Eskimos hammered the Toronto Argonauts 24-6 in an outstanding defensive performance by the entire club.
The game can be seen on TSN at 11am. Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
Even without a Hall of Fame Game, the NFL world came together to honour those inducted into the 2011 Hall of Fame class in Canton, Ohio on Saturday.
The list included Atlanta Falcons and Dallas Cowboys’ cornerback Deion Sanders, St. Louis Rams’ running back Marshall Faulk, Denver Broncos’ wide receiver Shannon Sharpe, Chicago Bears’ defensive end Richard Dent, NFL Films’ founder Ed Sabol, Washington Redskins’ linebacker Chris Hanburger and Los Angeles Rams’ linebacker Les Richter.
Out of the seven, I am the most familiar with Sanders, Sharpe, Dent and Faulk.
Sanders, who also spent a short period of time with the Washington Redskins, Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers, was known for his outstanding personality and versatility. He would be occasionally used as a wide receiver on the football field. Sanders also had an outstanding career in baseball, mostly with the Atlanta Braves. In 1992, he led the Majors in triples with 14.
Some of Sanders’ accolades include being named the Associated Press Defensive Player of the Year while with the 49ers in 1994. He was also a member of the Pro Bowl eight times and won two Super Bowls, with San Francisco in 1994 and Dallas in 1995.
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