Posts Tagged ‘john beck’


Weekend Sports Preview–October 29-30–NHL, CFL, ISU, NFL

Saturday, October 29th, 2011

It is an absolute marvelous time to be an Edmonton sports fan. The Oilers are in first place and the Edmonton Eskimos (10-6) can clinch first place in the Western Division with a win over the British Columbia Lions (9-7) at B.C. Place tonight (TSN, 8:00PM).

So when was the last time the Eskimos finished first in the West? You have to go all the way back to 2003 when they finished with a record of 13-5 and beat the Montreal Alouettes 34-22 to win the Grey Cup in Regina.

If the Eskimos hope to finish first in the West, they’ll need to play a full sixty minutes on the road, something they failed to do last week in Toronto. Edmonton once had a 31-3 lead but allowed the Argonauts to make things interesting in the final quarter, as the Boatmen scored the last three touchdowns.

If the Eskimos do lose, they’ll need to beat Saskatchewan next week and hope Montreal beats British Columbia to finish first in the West.

A key to the Eskimos tonight will be Ricky Ray and Jerome Messam, who were both named as CFL Players of the week– Ray was offensive player of the week, and Messam was the top Canadian. If they can combine for 150 yards rushing, it puts the Eskimos in an excellent position to win.

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Weekend Sports Preview–U.S. Open & NFL

Friday, September 9th, 2011

Rafael Nadal (James Phelps, Wikimedia Commons)

The top four players in the world will be on Arthur Ashe Stadium tomorrow for the semi-finals of the United States Open at Flushing Meadows, New York.

In the first match at 10am on CBS, the first seed, Novak Djokovic of Serbia takes on the third seed Roger Federer of Switzerland, followed by the second seed, Rafael Nadal of Spain taking on the fourth seed Andy Murray of Great Britain.

Head-to-head Federer has the 14-9 advantage on Djokovic, and beat him in their last meeting in the semi-finals of the French Open at Roland Garros, 7-6, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6.

As for Nadal, he has a 12-4 advantage over Murray, but we’ll have to watch Nadal’s fingers closely, as he recently burned two of them at a New York restaurant.

These are without a doubt the best tennis players on the planet and it a dream day for U.S. Open organizers even  though there isn’t going to be an American involved.

The two remaining Americans, John Isner and Andy Roddick both lost on Friday. Roddick got hammered by Nadal, while Isner won a set and pushed Murray at times in losing in four sets.

The women’s semi-finals also go tomorrow with one match televised. World number one Caroline Wozniacki plays the favourite and 28th ranked Serena Williams of the United States at 6pm on CBS. Head-to-head Williams has the 2-0 lead, having beaten Wozniacki twice in 2009.  The other women’s semi-final match between the ninth seed Australian Samantha Stosur and German Angelique Kerber, ranked 92nd in the world is not televised.

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