Jim Rome vs. David Stern

Recently, NBA Commissioner David Stern went on Jim Rome‘s daily sports talk show on CBS Sports Network, and had an intense exchange of words with the talk show host.

It all started when Rome asked, “I know that you appreciate a good conspiracy theory as much as the next guy, was the fix in for the lottery?”

“I have two answers for that. The simple easy one, no, the second, a statement, shame on you for asking.” Stern replied.

Rome then said that he thought that his job was to ask the questions the questions that people wanted to know the answers to.

“No, it’s ridiculous, but that’s OK,” Stern said.

Rome responded by saying that he did not think the question was ridiculous.

“Have you stopped beating your wife yet?” Stern responded.

Jim Rome, who has never had a history of spousal abuse, said that he didn’t feel that that was fair.

The exchange went back and forth for what seemed like forever until the show’s time limit expired and the call was cut off.

I personally find it hilarious that two people, who have based their lives around sports, would be on the air bickering back and forth like two college kids in a pick-up game of basketball. Jim Rome you expect things like this from because of his attitude and the way he projects himself. Stern on the other hand came off as being a spoiled brat who felt that he didn’t owe it to the fans to give an explanation for the Hornets winning the lottery after being bought by the NBA. Let’s see how this affects his legacy going forward.

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Favorites Heading into the U.S. Open

The 112th United States Open of golf tees off this coming Thursday at The Olympic Club in San Francisco and sets up to be an instant classic that could come down to the 72nd hole of championship for a champion to be crowned.

The tournament features the best players in the world, as well as a good friend of mine Nick Sherwood, most of who are playing some of their best golf heading into the coming week at Olympic Club. Let’s break down some of the favorites:

Luke Donald of England, the number one ranked player in the world currently, is poised to grab is first major after winning The Transitions earlier this year on the PGA Tour and grabbing a victory on the European Tour’s premier event, The BMW Championship. Donald is one of the best, if not the best, ball-strikers in the world and pairs that with a great short-game which are both keys in the “toughest test of golf”. The one knock on Donald is that he gets erratic with his driver and that could spell disaster as the U.S. Open possesses some of the tightest fairways and thickest rough during the season.

Lee Westwood, a fellow country-man of Donald and third ranked player in the world, has been so close so many times to winning his first major but his short-game has let him down time and time again. Westwood, like Donald, is one of the best ball-strikers in the world and is coming off of a victory this past week at the European Tour’s Nordea Masters by 5 strokes as well as a 3rd place finish at this year’s first major, The Master. If Westwood is to finally get his first major he will need his short-game to not let him down.

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, the defending champion of the U.S. Open and second ranked player in the world has had an up-and-down season ever since rising to the number one ranked player in the world several months ago. McIlroy, many believe, is the future of golf and has everything that it takes to win a major, as he has already proved. After a victory at the Honda Classic earlier in the year McIlroy has had two second place finishes, but has also had three missed cuts. If McIlroy can get a hot putter at Olympic Club then watch out because he could run away with the title again.

Dustin Johnson of the United States, the 20th ranked player in the world, is coming off a victory this week at the PGA Tour’s St. Jude’s Classic and has the power and momentum to pull out a victory this week as well. One of the longest hitters in the world, Johnson has an opportunity to overpower Olympic Club and take home the trophy. A win here would also be sweet redemption for his heartbreaking losses in the U.S. Open and PGA Championship in 2010.

Phil Mickelson of the United States, the 12th ranked player in the world, is a fan favorite everywhere he tees it up and already has 4 majors to his name. The left-hander is one of the biggest risk-takers in the history of golf which works in his favor sometimes, and has held him back in some cases. Phil possesses the best short-game in the world and if he can find the fairways at Olympic he could very easily walk away with his fifth major. With Phil you never know though what you are going to get week-to-week, except excitement.

Bubba Watson of the United States, the fifth ranked player in the world, won The Masters just a few months ago and has the shot-shaping ability to deal with the sharp dog-legs, slanted fairways, and difficult greens. He also leads the PGA Tour in driving distance at 314 yards per drive which is key for the length that U.S. Open courses generally play. Watson, though, like Phil has a knack to try difficult shots rather than playing safe which has the potential to spell disaster for him as well.

Tiger Woods of the United States, the fourth ranked player in the world, is coming off of a win last week at The Memorial in which he birdied 3 of the final 4 holes to win. Tiger has shown flashes of getting back to the old form that he won 14 majors with, but inconsistency has made him difficult to predict week in and week out. Woods also won earlier in the year the the Arnold Palmer Invitational but has also missed several cuts. The key for Woods this week will be how he attacks the greens and whether or not he can make the big putts that he has become known for over the years.

Several other golfers have to be considered “favorites” this week. They are listed below with their world ranking and wins this year:

Jason Dufner (9th, 2 wins in 2012)
Matt Kuchar (6th, 1 win in 2012)
Hunter Mahan (8th, 2 wins in 2012)
Rickie Fowler (18th, 1 win in 2012)
Zach Johnson (16th, 1 win in 2012)
Steve Stricker (11th, 1 win in 2012)

As for my predictions for the 112th U.S. Open:

Winner: Lee Westwood
In the hunt: Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Hunter Mahan, and Keegan Bradley
Dark Horse: Sergio Garcia
Disappointment: Luke Donald

Will Tiger return to his Major domination this week at Olympic Club, or will someone else rise up? Courtesy of Chase McAlpine

Saturday’s Slate of Sports Doesn’t Disappoint

Saturday’s slate of sports is one for the ages. We start in Women’s Tennis where Maria Sharapova will face Sara Errani in the final of the Women’s French Open. The action then shifts to the action in EURO 2012 and the Belmont Stakes. You can add the 3rd round of the St. Jude’s Classic on the PGA Tour where Rory McIlroy is in position to grab another win before heading into the U.S. Open at Olympic Club next week. Then , of course, we move to to Game 6 of the NHL Finals and Game 7 of the NBA Finals in Miami. All-in-all it is a great day to sit on the couch and watch a full slate of sports. To read more check this out: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/spt–lebron–pacquaio–maria-sharapova–stanley-cup–euro-2012-and-you–welcome-to-a-saturday-of-sports-bliss.html

LeBron Rises to the Occasion

For all the slack that LeBron James takes for not being “clutch” he sure does have a nag for showing up for the biggest games in the playoffs.

With the Heat down 3-2, facing elimination and playing in Boston James put up 45 points on 19 of 26 shooting, 15 rebounds and 5 assists when his team needed him most.

The array of shots that James hit all night were ridiculous! Turnaround jumpers, floaters in the lane, three pointers over defenders, and fast break lay-in’s, not to mention the put back dunk that basically broke the Celtics’ back’s (see below).

This isn’t the first time that LeBron has done something like this in the postseason. In 2009 against Orlando LeBron scored 49 points, grabbed 6 boards, and dished out 8 assists in a Game 1 loss. In 2007 against Detroit he dropped 48 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists on the Pistons in a 109-107 win in double overtime. He scored 29 of his 48 points in the fourth quarter and overtimes. He also scored 47 points, and added 12 rebounds and 8 assists in a 2009 playoff game against the Atlanta Hawks to move the Cavaliers to a 3-0 lead in the series. Even earlier in these playoffs James scored 40 points with 18 rebounds in Game 4 against Indiana with the Heat down 2-1 in the series.

The point here is that for all the criticism James takes for this and that, he is the most dominating player in the NBA and when he is called upon to carry his team he, more often than not, rises to the occasion.

Oregon State Draws Final Blood Of 2011-2012 Civil War Series

The Civil War is one of the most historic rivalries in college athletics. It pits the Oregon State Beavers against the Oregon Ducks in multiple sports including basketball, football, baseball, volleyball, softball, and golf, to name a few.

This year, like most years, the Beavers and Ducks had many classic match-ups against one another, none more perhaps than the battle that took place yesterday morning at Emerald Valley Golf Course in Creswell, Oregon.

Two days ago Emerald Valley held the Northwest Sectional U.S. Open Qualifier in which two golfer would earn a spot in next week’s U.S. Open at The Olympic Club in San Francisco. The qualifier included many amateur and professional golfers from all over the west United States and Canada. Two round were to be played, 36 holes, over the course of the day. The Oregon weather did everything in it’s power to make this impossible though, as the final group finished up their final round in darkness around 9 p.m. that night.

When all the scores were tallied and posted Casey Martin, former controversial PGA Tour player and University of Oregon head golf coach, had won the event by one stroke with a total score of 138 (-4). The problem was the two players had tied for the second spot in the U.S. Open and a playoff was going to be needed to determine who would get the final available spot. Those two players were Dan Miernicki, who just recently finished a decorated golfing career at the U of O, and Nick Sherwood, an Oregon State University Junior.

With the conditions too dark to have a playoff, the two competitors were asked to come back the next morning for a Sudden Death Playoff at 8 a.m.

The next morning the Civil War began with both players parring the 10th hole and moving to the par-3 11th at Emerald Valley. Miernicki missed the green with his tee shot while Sherwood hit his to around 60 feet. Miernicki chipped to a foot for a tap-in par. Sherwood left his putt 12 feet short and was faced with a do-or-die  putt.

He made it!

On to the par-4 12th where Miernicki pushed his drive right and was blocked out by trees. Sherwood put his drive in the right center of the fairway and was the first to play from about 190 yards away from the pin. He hit his approach inside of 30 feet and Miernicki was forced to chip into the fairway. Miernicki then missed the green with his third and then chipped to a couple feet. Nick then hit his putt four feet by the hole. Miernicki made his 4-footer for bogey and Sherwood then had a 4-footer for the win.

He made it again!

Just like that the little known golfer from Albany, Oregon, who decided to stay close to home and play golf for Oregon State took down, not only a top-10 ranked amateur in the world, but an Oregon Duck. He is now on his way to the U.S. Open where he will play with the best players in the world, and he did it all by drawing the final blood in this year’s series of Civil Wars.

"Best Athlete" Bracket Semis Announced

It’s time for the unveiling of the Sports Action “Best Athlete” Bracket Semi-Finals. For those of you who don’t know yet Jonnie Motomochi and myself are on a quest to find the best athlete in professional sports today. On our show, Sports Action on 88.7 KBVR, this past week Jonnie and myself debated about who should be considered the best athlete. We got nowhere so we decided to make a bracket with the top-16 athletes in professional sports today and break it down until there was only one athlete left standing. We have just finished the quarter-finals and here is how the bracket now breaks down for the semis.

LeBron James of the NBA‘s Miami Heat will face Calvin “Megatron” Johnson of the NFL‘s Detroit Lions in the finals of the Deion Sanders Bracket. James, the number one overall seed in the bracket, was able to beat out the UFC‘s Jon “Bones” Jones while Megatron, the number two seed in this half of the bracket, beat out the talented Carl Crawford.

In the Bo Jackson Bracket the number one seed, Blake Griffin of the NBA, will square off with Russell Westbrook of the NBA. Westbrook was the number two seed in this bracket and dispatched Cam Newton in the closest vote that the Bo Jackson Bracket has seen yet. Griffin was able to advance by beating out fellow NBAer Dwight Howard.

Again, the Finals of the bracket will be released at the beginning of our show, Sports Action, on Sunday when we first come on air at 8pm. Be sure to tune in to 88.7 KBVR or stream live at kbvr.com/listen. We will then announce the best athlete in professional sports today in the last half hour of the show.

"Best Athlete" Quarter-Finals

We have advanced to the quarter-finals of the first ever Sports Action “Best Athlete” Bracket. There were several upsets in the first round and could be many more before this bracket is all said and done. Here is how the bracket now breaks down.

In the Deion Sanders Bracket the top overall seed, LeBron James, moved on over Miami Heat teammate Dwyane Wade. He will face the only UFC athlete in the competition, Jon “Bones” Jones, in the next round after Jones upset fourth seeded Bryce Harper of the MLB‘s Washington Nationals. The Boston Red Sox’s Carl Crawford, a three-sport all-state athlete in high school and number six seed in this bracket, also pulled the upset over the Philadelphia Eagles’ DeSean Jackson and will face Calvin “Megatron” Johnson in the quarters.

In the Bo Jackson half of the bracket the second overall seed Blake Griffin advanced easily, and now will face Dwight Howard who beat out the Atlanta Falcons’ Tony Gonzalez, who has been called one of the best athletes in NFL history. Finally Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers upset fellow NFLer Jimmy Graham of the New Orleans Saints, who played both basketball and football at The University of Miami, and will be facing   Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder who dispatched the only soccer player in the bracket, Christiano Ronaldo.

Here is how the quarters look:

Deion Sanders Bracket

1. LeBron James vs. 5. Jon “Bones” Jones
2. Calvin Johnson vs. 6. Carl Crawford

Bo Jackson Bracket

1. Blake Griffin vs. 5. Dwight Howard
2. Russell Westbrook vs. 6. Cam Newton

We will post these on social media so people can vote, or you can vote by leaving a comment on this page. Voting will close tonight at midnight and the results will be announced in the morning tomorrow.

"Best Athlete" Bracket Update

The Sports Action “Best Athlete” Bracket has gotten underway and here are the specifics. Today Jonnie and myself will be revealing the first round results. Jonnie will reveal the athletes who advance from the Deion Sanders bracket via Twitter and I will be announcing the athletes that move on in the Bo Jackson bracket via Facebook.

From there we will each announce one athlete from each side of our bracket to advance on each day until Friday when Jonnie will reveal the winner of the Deion Sanders bracket. I will then reveal the winner of the Bo Jackson bracket on Saturday. Sunday we will then reveal the best athlete in sports right now on 88.7 KBVR at 8pm.

Sports Action "Best Athlete" Bracket

Here it is sports fans, the Sports Action “Best Athlete” Bracket! Jonnie Motomochi and myself have narrowed down our list of the best athletes in professional sports today to 16 individuals. We set up two sides of the bracket which are named the Deion Sanders bracket and the Bo Jackson bracket, two great athletes who played multiple professional sports in their days. Over the next week Jonnie and myself will be breaking down the match-ups and declaring winners of each round via social media, Facebook and Twitter.  We will take all input into consideration so leave comments on this blog, on our Facebook‘s, or out Twitter accounts. Below are the match-ups/seeds for the first round. 

Deion Sanders Bracket

1. LeBron James vs. 8. Dwayne Wade

4. Bryce Harper vs. 5. Jon “Bones” Jones

3. DeSean Jackson vs. 6. Carl Crawford

2. Calvin Johnson vs. 7. Maya Moore

Bo Jackson Bracket

1. Blake Griffin vs. 8. Tiger Woods

4. Tony Gonzalez vs. 5. Dwight Howard

3. Jimmy Graham vs. 6. Cam Newton

2. Russell Westbrook vs. 7. Christiano Ronaldo

On the season finale of Sports Action next week we will reveal the winner of the bracket. Tune in to 88.7 KBVR from 8-10pm next Sunday next week.