Another week has come and gone in the world of sports, but don’t worry, we here at 15 Minutes of Fame are here to let you know how it all shook down! This week: we recap the final day of the MLB season, discuss the Eskimos loss in BC (and the Jerome Messam fight) and go through all the latest from the NHL. Oh yeah, and Edmonton is getting a new pro sports team!
In the GABBYs: The Tampa Bay Rays, the Texas Rangers, Terrelle Pryor, the Pittsburgh Pirates, Eugenio Velez and Carlos Tevez. This week’s Punchline is the guy who threw the banana at the Wings/Flyers preseason game!
The preseason fundraisers, I mean tournaments, continue around the world this week for many of Europe’s top soccer teams, and it seems to have been an especially bloopery few days!
To give you an idea of where some of the big clubs are playing at the moment: Manchester United, Man City and Real Madrid are three of the teams taking part in the Herbalife World Football Challenge, a tournament that pits some of the top sides in the world against a handful of Major League Soccer teams. Barcelona is about to join the WFC after winning the Audi Cup over in Germany, while Chelsea is spending the summer over in Asia, battling for the Barclays Asia Trophy.
Sure, fans around the world have been treated to some great soccer so far, but they are also getting to see their fair share of flubs as well! Why don’t we let Chelsea’s Yossi Benayoun kick things off for us…(After the Jump: Crazy soccer bloopers!) (more…)
For most North American sports fans, the off-season is a fairly boring period where the best you can hope for is a big trade or signing, or perhaps a new collective bargaining agreement.
If you’re a soccer fan though, the off-season apparently just means more highlights! I’m not even sure that there is an off-season for soccer fans, because when your European league of choice closes shop for the year, there is always Major League Soccer, which plays on an opposite schedule!
This year, while NFL & NBA fans sweat their respective lockouts and NHL fans get overexcited about player movement, the “off-season” for soccer fans has been jam packed with action. First, there was the Women’s World Cup, which really showed us all how far women’s soccer has come. Then we’ve got the Copa America, which has featured some massive upsets so far, and finally, the Herbalife World Football Challenge is now in full swing.
I know what you’re saying: “Kerrzy, the World Football Challenge is just a series of money-making friendlies where they make 10 subs at half time!”… (more…)
Things are heating up in England as the race for the Premier League title takes a few sudden turns and gets much more interesting…
If you haven’t been paying attention, here’s the Coles Notes version of what’s been going on: The current leaders, to a Man, are coming Untied at the wrong time, the second place Gunners have a shot but no ammo and the defending champions, once singing the Blues, are now playing their way back into the conversation as the season winds down!
On Monday, Chelsea beat Blackpool 3-1 thanks to a double from Frank Lampard and while it wasn’t their best outing of the season, it certainly wasn’t their worst and it earned them a huge three points. With the win, the Blues move to within nine points of league leaders Manchester United as they try to mount a late charge and repeat as EPL champs.
Nine points is a long way to come back, but it’s worth noting that Chelsea have a game in hand and also have a say in United dropping at least three more points when the two sides meet again on May 7th at Old Trafford… (more…)
It’s Monday and that means another 15 Minutes of Fame video with Jim and Geoffrey.
This week, your humble hosts talk a great deal about suspension in the NHL and the fights that have caused the NHL to hand out those suspensions. Then they talk about some trades speculation across the world, especially in the NBA.
In this week’s GABBYs – on the good side: The National Lacrosse League’s Edmonton Rush get their first win of the season, the NHL’s New Jersey Devils – and their $100 million man Ilya Kovalchuk is turning up the heat and The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Los Angeles Clippers to end a long run of losses.
On the bad side: Those same Cavaliers set a North American pro sport record with 26 straight losses, Manchester United plays Manchester City in the most expensive match ever to be played and right now the NHL is taking it’s cues from the movie “Slapshot.”
In Quick HIts: Quebec City’s arena prospects and the UFC sets records for ticket sales in Toronto.
Check it out.
Lot’s more after the jump. Click “continue reading.” ———————>
Do you think UFC president Dana White ever wishes he could move his entire production up to our side of the border?
Every time the UFC comes to Canada, records are set and that’s a trend that continued this week with a couple of new ones ahead of UFC 129 in Toronto – the organization’s first Ontario-based event. If Las Vegas didn’t have the deep connection and history with the fight game that it has, I’m sure more cards would find their way up here given our country’s track record.
In less than one hour on Thursday, more than 42,000 tickets (valued anywhere from $50 to $800) were sold for the April 30th event! That’s right, the “pre-sale” for the Toronto date almost doubled Montreal’s UFC attendance record of 23,152! (more…)
When you pick up the latest edition of the EA Sports Tiger Woods video game at the end of March, there are two things you’ll notice:
One, Electronic Arts has teamed up with Augusta National to include the home of the Masters in the game for the first time ever. Secondly, you’ll notice that Tiger Woods isn’t on the cover of the game anymore!
Let’s start with Augusta: ESPN reports the Masters will receive some proceeds from the game, which will go towards investing in development programs around the world. Apparently Augusta has given over $42-million to charity in the past 13 years and they’re using this as another stream of revenue to help that cause.