Congrats to Tim Wakefield and Mariano Rivera

I understand that this is a day late, but I figured better late than never.  So Tuesday night Tim Wakefield won his 200th career game as a pitcher and just hours later, Mariano Rivera became the second pitcher in MLB history to save 600 games.
Wakefield's 200th career win may not seem like a lot in comparison to the all-time greats, but when you add in that he is a pure knuckleball pitcher, 200 wins might as well seem like 300 for someone like himself.  On any given night, a knuckleballer can be completely unhittable, or the complete opposite.  Early in his career, he was the former, making hitters look foolish, with the ball dancing around the strike zone and hitters diving out of the way of a ball that started at their head, only to wind up having it drop in for a strike.  Recently though, Wakefield hasn't been as dominant, with his age (45) catching up to him.  But, with the Red Sox in the midst of a playoff push and their pitching staff dropping like flies, Wakefield has constantly toed the rubber, hoping to get his team a win.

Using one pitch, the knuckleball, Wakefield has managed to sustain a career well into his 40s

Many believe that Wakefield may be one of the last two or three pure knuckleballers in the game, with only one other notable knuckleballer pitching in the bigs, R.A. Dickey.  So congrats to Tim Wakefield on a tremendous feat and fantastic career.
Only mere hours after Wakefield's teammates popped the champagne on his milestone, across the country the Red Sox's rivals, the Yankees, celebrated one of their own milestones.  Closer Mariano Rivera became only the second pitcher to achieve 600 career saves, only one behind all-time leader Trevor Hoffman for most all-time.  Rivera has been a cornerstone in the Yankees bullpen, becoming one of the "Core Four" of him, Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, and Jorge Posada, members from the Yankees dynasty in the late 1990s and early 2000s and also members of the 2009 World Series championship team.

Once told to lose his cutter, Rivera has become the poster-boy for the best cutter ever thrown

Rivera is considered the greatest closer of all-time, even though he doesn't stand atop the leaderboard in saves, but couple his 600 career regular season saves with his 42 career postseason saves and 0.71 ERA and you have yourself not only one of the best closers in the game, but one of the best pitchers in the game.
So congrats to both players once again on achieving great milestones and outstanding careers.

Poll Question:

Out of these four from just this season, who's milestone is most outstanding?:
1. Derek Jeter (3,000 career hits)
2. Jim Thome (600 career home-runs)
3. Tim Wakefield (200 career wins as a knuckleballer)
4. Mariano Rivera (600 career saves)
Please leave answers in comments box 

*All images courtesy of Google Images*

Week 1's Best and Worst Performances (UPDATED)

So I'm thinking that I'm going to have to wait till all games are completed during each week before I do my best and worst performances because last night there was a great performance, maybe even the best of the week.

Tom Brady: Maybe the best QB in the game last night was on full display against the Miami Dolphins, as Tom Brady passed for 517 yards.  That's approximately 13x more yards than Minnesota QB Donovan McNabb.  And don't forget about that 99-yard passing TD to Wes Welker, tying the record for longest passing touchdown in NFL history.  The greatness that is Tom Brady was at it again on Monday Night Football.

Week 1's Best and Worst Performances

So, I was thinking about this today and I've decided to rank the best and worst performances from the week of football.  I think that I may do this every week.  So, without further ado, here we go.

The Best:
Cam Newton: Killer Cam was at his finest yesterday when he torched the Arizona Cardinals' defense, passing for 422 yards, two TDs, and a rushing TD.  The 422 yards was most in a rookie's NFL debut.  Unfortunately, nobody else on the Panthers showed up to play, making Newton 0-1 in his short career.  But, who knows, maybe he can translate into a solid NFL quarterback.  This was certainly a good start.

Ryan Fitzpatrick: So he goes out and throws for four TDs in Buffalo's Week 1 victory 41-7 rout of the Kansas City Chiefs.  The loss was the worst opening-week home loss in Chiefs history.  And believe it or not, this solid performance by the Bills and Fitzpatrick actually has people believing that they could be an alright team, maybe even winning upwards of eight games (I know, seems like a miracle).  But with Fitzpatrick at the helm, if he continues this pattern, they may even make the playoffs...

Ted Ginn Jr.: The poor man has to take a pay-cut earlier in the week and what does he do in return?  Well, he returned all right, a punt return and a kick off return for touchdowns.  He is the first player to have one of each in the same opening-week game in NFL history.  The AFC West is up for grabs, and Ginn Jr. may just be a secret-weapon for the 49ers to take the division.

The Worst:
The Colts: Everyone knew Peyton Manning was great, but is he really everything for the Indianapolis Colts?  It seems that way, after new addition QB Kerry Collins and the rest of the team pretty much forgot that the lockout ended and walked their way to a 34-7 blowout defeat at the hands of the Houston Texans.  Many believe that this could be Houston's year, especially with no Manning for the Colts.  Houston looked good and I have to agree with that assumption.

Donovan McNabb: It pains me to hate on McNabb, considering he is a legend in Philadelphia, but his debut for Minnesota could not have been much worse.  He completed only seven of 15 passes for a grand total OF... 39 yards.  Yeah, very productive.  Everyone thought that he could have a bounce back year now that he has a legitimate running back to hand off to, but in order for that to become a factor, he'll need to complete more than seven passes and try to throw for at least triple-digit yards.

The Steelers: I don't understand.   A year ago, they were playing for the Super Bowl.  Now, nine months later, they're turning the ball over SEVEN times?!  I thought teams stopped turning the ball over more than five once they got past Pop Warner.  Guess not.  Either way, I don't expect this to be the usual trend for the Steelers this season, but if this is how they play against good teams and their rival, it could be an ugly season for Pittsburgh fans.

Hopefully, the "bad's" aren't always the same, but good luck to all the "good's" out there.

*Images courtesy of Google Images*

The Lokomotiv Tragedy

Today was a sad day in the world of sports.  Every blind sports fan is probably thinking "Oh I know, Peyton Manning is out this week and his consecutive starts streak is snapped."
Nope not that.  A true tragedy occurred earlier in the day in Russia when the plane that the Kontinental Hockey League team Lokomotiv was traveling on crashed into a riverbank, killing 43 players, coaches, and other passengers on board.  The tragedy seems almost unreal to imagine, with so many professionals, so young in life, now dead.
Although it happened in Russia, the impact this crash has on America is huge.  There were a number of players on the Lokomotiv roster who played in the NHL, making their mark on the league and helping the sport grow.  Players such as Ruslan Salei, Karlis Skrastins, Pavol Demitra, Stefan Liv, Josef Vasicek, Karel Rachunek, and former NHL player and coach of Lokomotiv Brian McCrimmon have all lost their lives.
The KHL is considered as the second best professional hockey league behind the NHL and is a very popular destination for players to finish off their careers or try to re-start them and get another shot at the NHL.  The league's popularity grew during the most recent NHL lockout, becoming the first league that many NHL players attempted to join in order to stay on the ice.
Lokomotiv had won three KHL titles, their first in 1997 and then back-to-back titles in 2002 and 2003.
All you can really say is, Rest In Peace.

http://aol.sportingnews.com/nhl/story/2011-09-07/russian-jet-carrying-hockey-team-crashes-36-dead

College Footballs 10 Ugliest Uniforms

Thanks to the University of Maryland's hideous display of state pride in last night's win over the University of Miami, the Oregon Ducks now have some company in putting together some ugly uniform combinations.  While Oregon's jerseys have gotten better over the past couple seasons, they still have thrown out a number of scary uniforms.  So, I now list my top-10 ugliest college football uniforms.

10. Syracuse Orange (the orange on orange with orange helmet)

9. Iowa State (white on red pants, with red and yellow trim)

8. Louisiana-Monroe (white on white, with maroon lettering)

7. Notre Dame (light green top with yellow pants and traditional gold helmet)

6. Tulsa (white tops with gold pants and gold helmet with red and blue trim)

5. Oregon Ducks (neon yellow top and pants with green helmet and green shoulders)

4. Wyoming Cowboys (any jersey combo with the ugly white helmet and brown silhouette of the cowboy and bronco)

3. Maryland Terrapins (the "State Flag" theme)

2. Florida A&M (white tops with green shoulders, green pants, and orange helmet)

1. Rhode Island (light blue everything)

So, that's my top-10.  Everywhere I looked, Rhode Island's new uni's (yes I said new because they debuted the atrocity in 2010) were a consensus number one.  I don't even think that a pee-wee Pop Warner team would accept those jerseys if one of the teams was named the Seals.  For God's sake, burn them please.

PS: Whoever is playing Florida A&M in the #2 picture, you're lucky I don't know which school you are because you definitely would have made the list with that ensemble.

Getting You Going for the New College Football Season

Jeff Maehl Play of the Year at the 3:45 mark

Welcome back college football.  You've been missed

CJ2K Gets Paid

Well there you have it, the Chris Johnson/Tennessee Titans contract saga has been resolved.  It was announced Thursday that the Titans and running back Chris Johnson have agreed to a 4 yr./ $53 million extension, with $30 million guaranteed.
The announcement brings relief to all them "fake" Titans fans (yes I am mocking Chris Johnson's tweet) and can make any fantasy owners of Chris Johnson feel relieved that he will be in the lineup for all 16 games this season (I'm now mocking Arian Foster).

Both sides got what they wanted, with Johnson getting his pay and the Titans keeping around their main offensive threat.  Johnson has been holding out of camp the entire preseason due to contract disputes.  Johnson was entering his last year on his rookie contract.  He was only expected to earn $1.065 million this season, which may seem like a small amount for a running back that rushed for over 2,000 yards two seasons ago.  But, like many first round picks, much of Johnson's money was guaranteed, meaning that he earned roughly half of his pay on the contract in the first two seasons.
Guaranteed contracts have been of much dispute lately, with many high-profile players getting guaranteed contracts and receiving upwards of $20 million a season in the first two or three years of a contract and then only making about $5-6 million in the remaining years.  Players need to begin realizing that by earning guaranteed money, they are forfeiting an average pay over the length of the contract and are getting the majority of it in the early years.

That was the main dispute between Johnson and the Titans, with Johnson saying that he has outplayed his contract, but forgetting that he got paid as a high-profile running back during his first two seasons in the league.
Johnson was the NFL's leading rusher two seasons ago and is by far one of the most dynamic players in the game and definitely the most dynamic in Tennessee.  He wanted to be paid as a top NFL player, not just running back.
So, while Johnson may be getting more money this season, it won't surprise me one bit if he wants to re-up his contract in about three seasons, when he won't be making the same money that he is going to get this season.  But hey, who cares, because today is a happy day for CJ2K and the Titans.

*Images Courtesy of Google Images*