Ollies Sports Talk

Sharipova Wins Open

2006-09-10T07:31:00.000-07:00

10:26 AM

Last night, at about 9:30, nineteen year old Maria Sharipova won her second career grand slam title. This one came in Flushing, New York, at the US Open. Her last Grand Slam was at the 2004 Wimbledon.
"I knew that Wimbledon wasn't a joke," Sharipova said, "I knew i had it in me to win another Grand Slam."
Sharipova won in two strait sets to 5'1'' Justine Henin-Hardenne.
This was a really grate tennis match if you saw it. There were a lot of long rallys, and really, both players played pretty equally, although Sharipova did come out on top.
Sharipova knocked off Number 1 seed Amelie Mauresmo and, of coarse, Number two seed Justine Henin-Hardenne.
Perhaps more impressive than young 19 year old Sharipova's win, was the win of a true veteran of the game. Martina Navratilova, age 49, teamed up with Bob Bryan to win the Mixed Doubles title. Navratilova has played in 4 decades of tennis (1970's, 80's, 90's, 2000's). With the win, she won her 59th and final Grand Slam title, in fairy tale form.

Pacman Caught

2006-08-26T13:36:00.000-07:00

4:32

Well, it happened again. This time its not Maurice Clarette, or Santonion Holmes. Its "Pacman" Jones.
Early last Friday morning, Tennesse Titans conerback and first round draft pick Pacman Jones was arrested outside a bar for disorderly conduct and public inntoxication.
This is the second time Pacman has been arrested, altough the first time all charges were dismissed.
In 2005 with the Titans, Jones played in fifteen games. In those fifteen games, he took part in 53 tackles. For all you math brains out there, thats a little over 3.5 tackles per game. He had no interceptians and no sacks.
The twenty two year old corner back attended West Virgina University. On August 19, 2005 he signed a five year contract.
Titans Head Coach Jeff Fisher decided to suspend Jones for the Titans pre-season game today. He claimed that he and Jones had a serious talk.
These young athletes have too much ahead of them. Pacman just made a bad name for himself by doing these crimes. Rickey Williams made a bad name for himself by quitting so he could move to who-knows-where to do who-knows-what. Justin Gatlin will always be remembered as the great American Sprinter that tied the record on the 100 meter dash at 9.77 seconds, but then was found out to be doping and got fined 100K and got suspended from professional track and field for 8 years.
Now Jones offense was significantly less than that of Gatlin and Williams. But he already has a criminal record and he just started playing professional football last year. This young man will be making millions and millions of dollars in his career if he straightens up, but, if he doesn't, you can't make much money in prison.

Five up, Five down.

2006-08-22T07:34:00.000-07:00

10:29 AM

Usally i wouldn't write about the same thing twice in a row, but this is an exceptian.
Well, I said that the Red Sox weren't going to make the playoffs, and that the whole team was going down in flames. As the days pass, this prediction is becoming more and more realistic.
I also said that if the Red Sox wanted a chance at making October, they had to beat the Yankees 4 out of 5 times in their five game series. This also was not accomplished. The Yanks swept the Sox, giving them a comfortable 6.5 game lead in the division. (the Red Sox are still in second place in the AL East.)
They also weren't able to take advantage of both Minnesota and Chichago White Sox going 5-5 in their last 10 games. The Sox went 3-7. In the Wild Card, which I don't pay too much attention to right now, the Red Sox are 4.0 games out of first. (Minnesota is behind the White Sox by .5 games.)
Its not like the Red Sox have an easy road ahead of them either. They head on a nine game road trip facing Los Angeles (Angels), Seattle, and Oakland. Both LA and Oakland are over .500, and should be six tough games for the Sox.
The Yanks don't have it that easy either in the next nine. They go on a six game trip visiting Seatle and then Los Angeles (Angels). After that, they have an off day and then come back to New York to open up a 3 game set with the best team in baseball, the Detroit Tigers.
The next 6 games for the White Sox look tough too. They play Detroit then Minnesota. After those games, however, they take on the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
The next 9 for the Twins shouldn't be too challenging for them. The play 3 vs. the Orioles and then, of coarse, take on the White Sox. After that, they open up a 3 game set with the worst team in Major League Baseball, the Royals.
So the Sox really need to pick up the pace if they want to play meaningful baseball in October.

Red Sox Woes

2006-08-18T09:07:00.000-07:00

12:02 PM

Its no secret that the Red Sox are struggling. You could say that it has somthing to do with hitting, but you would be wrong. The Sox power numbers have been on the uprise and their team average has been excellent. Their problem? Starting pitching and closing. For example, Josh Beckett is still considered to be having a decent year, however, in his last three starts, he has an ERA over 8.00 and is 0-2. Not such great stats from the #2 starter in your rotation. Jon Lester has been doing alright, but not even close to how he started off the season. Although hes pitched decently, Curt Schilling has been on a little slide in his last two games going 0-2 with a ERA just over 4.00, and ERA good for most pitchers, but not so great for a future Hall of Famer. John Papelbon has been simply magnificant this year, however, on August 6th, and 9th, he gave up his first two blown saves, back-to-back. Those were two games that the Sox should have won, making them only 0.5 games back in the AL East, not 1.5 and not 2.5 back in the Wild Card, but rather 1.5 games back.
Ive seen much worse pitching than the Sox have been doing recently. However, this pitching is absolutly unacceptable for a team with the second highest payroll in baseball. ($120,100,524).
So why are the pitchers struggling? Well, you can't really say that Jon Lester is struggling but he is young and he has been on a little slide as of late. Josh Beckett's preformance is unacceptable for a guy thats getting payed over $4 Million. John Papelbon is still a strong canditate for ROY, but he did blow two key saves. I think that the younger pitchers have been struggling with the absence of Jason Varitek going back to my article "Boston's Catcher Situation." That was the captain of their team and he was the one that made everything work for the pitching rotation. When he gets back, I guarentee that the Sox will start to turn things around. Until then, still don't plan to see Boston in October, unless they can pull off some quality starts and win 7 or 8 ball games in a row. Boston opens a five game series with the Yankees in about an hour today. This series will be critical. Boston must take 4 out of 5 from the Yanks if they want to play in October.

Justin Gatlin

2006-08-13T11:55:00.000-07:00

2: 50 PM

Well, yet another case of doping is becoming big news here in the states. This time it's not Tour de France Champion Floyd Landis, it's star sprinter Justin Gatlin.
Gatlin, 24, is a co-record holder of the 100 meter dash with a blistering time of 9.76 seconds.
On April 22, 2006, Gatlin tested positive for high levels of synthetic testosterone or other steroids. Gatlin constantly denies knowingly using preformancing enhancing drugs (PED).
This is the second time that Gatlin has been accused of using PED, and, unless he testifies against his coach Trevor Graham, will be banned from professional competition for life. If he does testify against him, Gatlin would still recieve at least an eight year suspension, still basically ending his career. (That means he would be 32 at the time of his return, very old for a sprinter.)
Graham claims that a massage therapist rubbed testosterone cream on his legs.
Look, this has become way to common in the United States. Athletes tend to sometimes think that they are above the law. This isn't just breaking the law in sports, it's breaking a constitutional law in the United States by using illeagle drugs! Agencys are way to forgiving to athletes that us PED. Example, in baseball, if you use a PED you get a 50 game suspension, usally a fine, and no jail time. If you get caught using steroids in baseball, you should get at least a 5 year suspension, $300,000 dollar fine, and a few weeks in jail.
If Gatlin is definitly guilty of using PED, he should be banned for life, fined, and put in prision along with all the other atletes that believe that they are above the rules of their sport, and the law.

Disagree? Comment or email me. Email questions as well that will be answered in future articles.

EQuestions 8-12-06

2006-08-12T10:35:00.001-07:00

1:30

Question: Is it too early to pay attention to the wild card race in baseball? -John B.

Answer: John, right now, I think it is a little too early to be insterested it the wild card. I mean, today, currently in the NL wild card, there are 10 teams within 5 games of the lead (Cincinatti leads the race by .5 games.) Any of these teams could pull back and win the race. Personally, I start paying attention to the race around September 15. That's when it starts to become absolutly critical for teams to win and hold their lead in the Wild Card. And the same deal is with the AL, although, it is basically a 3 team battle currently (White Sox, Minnesota, Boston.) The White Sox lead that race by 1.5 games, with Boston behind by two games.

Question: Should Ben Roethlisberger start in the Steelers first pre-season game today vs. Arizona? Sarah B.--- Pittsburgh

Answer: Well its good to hear from a fellow Pittsburgher. As you know, Sarah, everyone in the city wants to see Big Ben play today. However, with his motorcycle crash just two months ago, it may be the wrong descision for Bill Cowher to make. Ben had a pretty serious concusion in that crash, and his brain could be very tender right now. If he gets hit and misses some of the actual season, Steelers fans will be furious with Bill Cowher. Playing Ben today is the wrong desicion.

Email me questions that I will answer in future articles @ fronzie5@yahoo.com. Leave comments if you disagree, or want to give general feedback.

Serena Williams Looks to make Comeback

2006-08-11T10:27:00.000-07:00

1: 24 PM

Seven-time grand-slam tennis player Serena Williams has played terribly as of late. But, that is all about to change.
Miss Williams will be looking to advance to the semifinals in the Chase Open on Friday when she faces off against Meghann Shaughnessy, a fellow american.
With a sore knee, Williams hasn't played much tennis this season, and im sure you all remember when she basically quit tennis two seasons ago to do more fasion stuff. This season, she is trying to put all of that in the past, and concentrate on one thing and one thing only: playing quality tennis.
In her last major, the Austrailan Open from January 15-28, she was knocked out in the third round of competition by, at the time, the #17 player in the world, Daniela Hantuchova. Hantuchova is currently #7 in the world.
Williams has given up on tennis in the past, so what makes us think that she wont again? Serena's future is in fasion and modeling events, not in tennis. She had her peak, and while she was on the top, she exited as soon as she entered. Williams is not dedicated to tennis. She and Anna Kournikova have a lot in common in that respect: they both were magnificant athletes and great tennis players, but simply weren't happy playing the game, so they did something else that they had a passion for. Serena will realize that playing tennis isn't what she wanted to do, and she will be sorry for comming back, in my opinion.

Top 10 Most Clutch MLB Players

2006-08-09T14:01:00.000-07:00

4:59

The baseball season is more than half way over, so I decided to make a list of the ten most clutch players in the major leagues to this point. We'll start off with number 10, and work our way down to the most clutch player.

10. Derek Jeter. We all know that Jeter may be a little bit overrated when it comes to his preformance in the clutch. However, he does have a .376 average and has 38 hits with RISP.

9. Barry Bonds. Even with all the rumors swirling about his use of steroids, and all the judgement that he has been dealing with, Bonds still has managed to have the fourth highest average with RISP in the NL, even though his average is only .246.

8. David Wright. An all-around great player, and has won a few ball games for the Mets via the walk off hit.

7. Manny Ramirez. Hes not as clutch as he has been in the past, but Manny just keeps being Manny. He seems to come up with a clutch hit most of the time.

6. Nomar Garciaparra. Garciaparra has to be the NL comeback player of the year. If the Dodgers manage to get into the playoffs, i guarentee it that Nomar will come through into the late weeks of September.

5. Freddy Sanchez. WHO? Freddy Sanchez is a third baseman for the last-place pirates. All though the pirates are doing horrible this year, Sanchez has been coming through in the clutch. He has the third highest BA w/ RISP and leads the NL in the batting race.

4. Joe Mauer. How many of us can honestly say we knew who this rookie was at the beginning of the season? Almost no one. Hes helping the Twins make a playoff push with a .367 batting average, 21 points over second place Derek Jeter. His BA w/ RISP is .379.

3. Lance Berkman. Although he hasn't played much, he has a sick .413 batting average with RISP and is the Astros main man.

2. Albert Pujols. You simply have to look at his average with runners in scoring position. .443.

1. David Ortiz. Who else? Hes not even on the list of the top 20 players w/ the highest BA w/ RISP, but when you turn on sportscenter in the morning, you just know that Ortiz hit another walkoff home run. He is simply the most clutch player in the MLB at the current time.

MOST CLUTCH PLAYER OF ALL TIME: Roberto Clemente.

Well, thats the list. If someone you think should have gotten on the list, let me know about it by leaving a comment or emailing me.

Wie Fires Caddie

2006-08-09T12:34:00.000-07:00

3:30 PM

The 16 year-old Michelle Wie fired her caddie, Greg Johnston. And no, this is not the hockey player that played for the Boston Bruins. He is a 12+ year veteran at caddying.
After Wie's 26th place finish at the Ladies Brittish open, she had her agent tell Johnston that he was fired. "I was shocked and surprised," Johnston said. He was even more supprised because he had dinner the night before with Wie's agent, Ross Berlin.
This comes as a suprise to the golf world. The hard-hitting, major-hopeful Michelle Wie is only 16 years old, yet has played in a few men's golf events, but has not made the cut in any of them.
She has not released the official reason that she fired Johnston.
In my Opinion, this shows immaturity on Wie's part. She had a professional caddie, and fired him because she played horrible golf at the British Open. Thats no ones fault but hers, not her caddie.

Disagree? Email me fronzie5@yahoo.com.

EQuestion 8-9-06

2006-08-09T08:44:00.000-07:00

11: 40 AM

Question: Ollie,

Do you think that the media is paying too much attention to football and certain players like Big Ben, even though it is still the off-season. If yes, why do you think they do this? Shouldn't other sports such as baseball, tennis, and golf be paid more attention then they're getting?

Sincerely,
Elliot F.

Answer: Elliot, you are absolutly correct. When you turn on SportsCenter nowadays, all they have on is the "condition of Terrell Owens" or "How will Big Ben recover after his crash?" They also talk about how "out of shape" some players are that are 380 pounds. Then, they may talk a little about baseball and give you a few highlights. When Tiger Woods isn't playing, don't expect to see much new news about golf. And tennis doesnt get too much attention, however, not many Americans are insterested in tennis, now that most of the USA Tennis players have taken a turn for the worse.
However, Elliot, you have to look at the other end of the spectrum. Football is the most widly watched sport in the United States and is over a $6 Billion dollar industry. The Superbowl is watched by nearly 1 out of 2 Americans. And most diehart football fans aren't fans of much else. I know here in Pittsburgh the pirates are the worst in the NL and the penguins have nothing new to report and absolutly nobody cares about our A league soccer team the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, so everyone wants to hear about the World Champion Steelers, because nobody else is winning.
My opinion in this matter is, however, that football gets way too much hype this early. Heck, 30 teams havn't even had a preseason game yet. Let me know about football after the last preseason game. Thats when I'll be watching.

IF YOU HAVE SPORTS QUESTIONS OR GENERAL FEEDBACK, EMAIL ME AT fronzie5@yahoo.com

Livan Hernandez Traded To Arizona

2006-08-08T06:45:00.000-07:00

9:43 AM

Who said anything about a trade deadline? Obviously the Nationals and Diamondbacks didnt hear anything about it. Just about one week after the MLB "trade deadline" Livan Hernandez was dealt to the Arizona Diamondbacks from the Washington Nationals.
In my opinion, this should be the missing link for the D-Backs. Hernandez is struggling a little bit this season with an ERA of 5.34, but he has a winning record of 9-8. Hernandez is a ten year veteran, and really knows how to perform in the clutch. If the Diamondbacks do manage to get into the playoffs and win the world series, i guarentee you that Hernandez will be a big part of that effort.
Hernandez's life-time record is 119-112 with an ERA of 4.20. His best season was 2000 with the San Fransisco Giants, where he pitched 240.0 innings, had an ERA of 3.75, and a win/loss total of 17-11.
Hernandez is a two time all-star, in 2004 and 2005.
The Snakes really nailed it here. They got what they needed to help them win ball games and get into the playoffs: quality starting pitching. If all their players stay healthy, they may be able to pull a late September rally and win the weakening NL West.

Tour de Testosterone

2006-08-07T14:22:00.000-07:00

5:17

Professional cycling has had issues with preformancing enhancing substances as long as the sport has been around. But absolutly nobody expected this.
As im sure you already know, 2006 Tour de France champion Floyd Landis was caught with a high level of testosterone in his body. Infact, he had nearly three times the normal amount of testosterone in his body than in the average body.
Landis was 8 minutes and 30 seconds behind the leader of the Tour entering stage 17 of the huge race. In that stage, Landis pulled off arugably the most amazing preformance in the history of cycling by gaining 8 minutes in the stage, winning it, and pulling within 30 seconds of the leader. In the next couple of stages, Landis took the Yellow Jersey and held onto it.
However, only about a week after the tour was finished, the urine samples came in. And as this article already stated, high levels of testosterone were detected. Five days after that, another lab was done confirming that the testosterone was not natural, but synthetic, meaning that he had testosterone injected into him, or he had testosterone cream rubbed on him. A few days after the high levels of testosterone were confirmed to be synthetic, Landis' B sample came in. It confirmed the A sample in that he had a very high level of testosterone.
Now Landis was struggling with a hip injury during the whole tour, and took a rub-on-medication. (The medication was approved by the Tour de France officials.) If he can get his doctors to prove that the medication is what gave him the high levels of synthetic testosterone, Landis would be off the hook.
So what now for Landis? The cyclist said earlier in a quote, "I will do everything to defend my title and make sure im not falsly accused of doping." If Landis is accused, the title would be stripped from Landis and be given to Oscar Pereiro from Spain. Landis has already been fired from his team Phonak and has been suspended from professional cycling for two years.

Above: Floyd Landis celebrates after winning Stage 17 of the Tour de France. He went on to win the Tour.

If you disagree with this article or any others or just want to give me general feedback, please leave a comment below. Or, you can email me at fronzie5@yahoo.com.

Tiger Woods Wins Number 50

2006-08-07T07:21:00.000-07:00

10:32 AM

On Sunday, August 6th, Tiger Woods reached a mile stone in his career. What is that mile stone you may ask? It's 50 career victories on the PGA tour, a feat done only by the games most elite golfers, such as Byron Nelson, Billy Casper, Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, and the Golden Bear, Sam Snead. Snead has the most wins on tour at 82 victories.
Tiger is the youngest player to reach this many victories at only 30 years of age. The previous record was held by Jack Nicklaus when he reached 50 wins at age 33. So you see, Tiger is really off to a great start to his already magnificant career.
Tiger Woods earned over $800K by winning the Buick Championship, a golf tournament that he himself sponsers. The money puts his season total at $5,127,563. He leads the PGA Tour money list.
So you asked, is this when Tiger quits? Absolutly not. After the tournament, Woods said, "It's a lifelong ambition to get better." So when he goes home, the best will try to get better.

PREDICTIONS: Q: How many tour victories will Tiger have?

A: Obviously, Woods is arguably the best golfer ever. I wouldn't be suprised to see Woods hit 105 or 110 career victories.

Pictured Above: Tiger Woods pumps his fist after sinking a birdie put on hole 18 of the Buick Championship. Woods had a career high 28 birdies in the tournamant, and only four bogeys.

The NL: REPORT

2006-08-06T19:02:00.001-07:00

10:21 PM

NL WEST: The San Diego Padres, with a record of 58-53, have a 2.0 game lead in the NL west. In the past ten games, they have had a little bit of a slide, however, dropping six of ten. Arizona and Los Angeles are both 56-55 and 2.0 games back of the Padres. The Dodgers, after dropping 12 of 13 games, have been very impressive in their past ten games, winning nine of ten. The Colorado Rockies continue to hang in the race, only 3.5 games back, while the Giants and Barry Bonds are five games back with a record of 53-58.

NL CENTRAL: The Cardinals lead the Central by a strong 3.5 games right now, with a record of 60-50. After losing eight strait games, the cardinals have managed to win two strait from the Brewers, on Saturday and Sunday. Cincinatti is the only team putting pressure on the Cards, with a record of 57-54. The Brewers are 7.5 games back in the division; their only hope of the postseason is winning the wild card. Chicago is 13.5 games back taking two of three from the Pirates over a weekend series. The Pirates are 6-4 in their last ten games, and a record of 12-10 since the all-star break. ( They had a major league worst 30-60 prior to the break.) They are 19.0 games back.

NL EAST: Theres no question here; they Mets have it pretty much locked up. The best team in the NL just keeps winning, with a record of 65-44 and a winning percentage of .596. The Phillies are second in the division with a record of 53-56 and 12.0 games back. It looks like Atlanta's 14 strait division titles will be halted this year; they are 14.5 games back of the Mets. The Nationals are last in the division, with a record of 49-62, and are 19.0 games back.

pictured above: Mr. Met is having a blast this year at Shea as the Mets are the best team in the NL.

Boston's Catcher Situation

2006-08-06T17:56:00.000-07:00

8:53 PM

On Friday, the Boston Red Sox played the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. During the game, catcher Doug Mirabelli was sidelined when he twisted his left ankle.
Just a couple weeks before that, starting catcher and Captain Jason Varitek also got injured, sending him to the 15 day disabled list.
On Thursday night, the Red Sox completed a deal with the Baltimore Orioles for veteran catcher Javy Lopez. Lopez, age 35, is having a disappointing offensive season. As of August sixth, Lopez was hitting a casual .256, with only eight home runs and 31 RBI'S, which are pretty much average stats for a catcher, but not for a guy that hit 43 home runs only three years ago. (Over the past three seasons, basically every one of Javy's offensive statitics have dropped significantly.)
Lopez has only played in 21 games for Baltimore this year. In fact, he has not even started back-to-back games.
The Red Sox have a very serious situation here. They have the veteran Javy Lopez, and one backup catcher Corky Miller. Fortunatly for the Sox, Mirabelli should be back soon, but in this heated race for October, will the damage be done?

BOTTOM LINE: It may be too late for the Red Sox. They are relying on an old catcher that is very prone to injury and is not used to playing on a daily basis, and an inexpierienced catcher. Their next option? The Pawtucket Red Sox only have one catcher left, Alberto Concepcion, and if the Sox have to call him up too, it could be a long two months. Don't expect to see Boston in October.