Running Away

The toast of every town on the Sprint Cup circuit, Kyle Busch dialed up his fifth victory of the season in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. Not recognized as a great road course racer, Busch led 78 of 112 laps and extended his points lead over Jeff Burton to 103. With the unbelievable pace he’s been setting, I’m starting to wonder if in three months we’ll be talking about Kyle challenging Jeff Gordon’s 13 victory season of 1998 as one of the most dominant in recent memory. Busch’s success is seemingly most due to his move to Joe Gibbs racing, but it’s also become clear that Kyle has finally learned to race for an entire 500 miles on Sunday. After running 90.4% of laps in 2005 and 93.9% of laps in ‘06, Busch is currently on pace to run over 97% of all laps this season. Consistency and an ability to run well everywhere is what makes you a champion in NASCAR, it’s becoming more and more evident that the 18 is the team to beat for the Sprint Cup this season.

The Future of Number Five

It was no suprise to racing fans last season when young Kyle Busch was pushed out of his #5 Chevorlet at Hendrick Motorsports to make room for the sport’s biggest star Dale Earnhardt Jr. What has been suprising is how dominant Busch has been in his new ride, Joe Gibbs Racing’s #18 Toyota Camry. Busch has kicked off 2008 by winning five of the season’s first 18 races. If there has been a down moment to Busch’s break out season, it’s the fact that the young driver from Las Vegas led a race-high 86 laps in the season opening Daytona 500, only to come home fourth in the sport’s grandest event. As Kyle Busch has dominated, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has quietly (if possible given his fanfare) waded in the wings, remaining in the top five in Sprint Cup Series points since early in the season. Earnhardt’s sole victory at Michigan pales in comparison to Busch’s five, however there was no way that Rick Hendrick could pass on the opportunity to take Junior under his wing and in his race cars, even at the cost of losing hotshot Kyle Busch. As news trickled out early last week about Mr. Hendrick’s dissatisfaction with the underperforming Casey Mears, it’s become blatantly obvious that Rick gave his papers to the wrong driver last season. While the entire garage has been chasing Busch Sunday after Sunday, Mears, who took over Busch’s #5 beginning this season, is mired deep at 24th in points with three DNFs. That said, it’s really no wonder that Rick Hendrick earlier this week announced that Mears would be released from his contract at the end of this season. Now the real fun begins. With a prestigious ride like the #5 in need of a driver for next season, it’s going to kick an already crazy Silly Season into overdrive. The most rumored candidate to replace Mears is veteran Mark Martin, a deal that somewhat actually does make sense for both sides. Mr. Hendrick gets a driver that can win on any track, any Sunday and that will be a magnet for additional sponsorship. This in turn means Mark Martin will take one final shot at the NASCAR Championship that has escaped him for over 25 years. Martin Truex Jr. would make a great fit for the 5, and I’m personally hoping he lands in the car next season. Martin would leave Dale Earnhardt Jr., an organization that seems to be taking on water on a weekly basis and find himself a place at the greatest race team in the world today: Hendrick Motorsports. That said, Truex and Martin along with any other driver anticipating a shot in the #5 has to consider the chance that being teamed with the sport’s three biggest stars in Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson will make it very easy to get lost in the shuffle. Regardless of who the media may toss around as the new face at Hendrick, you can bet your house it won’t be two-time Cup Champion Tony Stewart. Stewart is his own man and more than any driver in the garage today feels that he can and will run his own successful Cup team. If Stewart does jump ship from Gibbs Racing, it’ll be for Haas CNC and a chance to own his own team in time. Ofcourse that still leaves us the #5, a spot that makes perfect sense for Martin, Mark or Truex. It’ll be a very interesting Silly Season with many updates to follow in the coming weeks as news comes down on the futures of Greg Biffle, Juan Pablo Montoya and Daytona 500 Champion Ryan Newman.

Celtics Take Home Title

After a 22 year long hiatus, the NBA Championship has returned to Boston. The Boston Celtics kept their home court dominance in full effect as they defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in Game Six of the NBA Finals, 131-92, to win their 17th NBA title. Led by “The Big Three,” Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce, the Celtics went an incredible 48-7 at home during the regular season and 13-1 in the playoffs. Regular Season MVP, Kobe Bryant, added 22 points in the final game but could not lead his Lakers back from a slow start in the NBA Finals. After suffering what looked to be a devastating knee injury in the first game of the series, Paul Pierce battled back and was named Finals MVP. With cheers of, “Seventeen!” echoing off the parquet floor in the minutes after the game ended, the Celtics passed around victory cigars and somewhere, Red Auerbach, the legendary coach of the Boston Celtics who was involved in the first 16 Celtic titles, was smiling.

Yogi-isms Still Prevalent in Modern Day Baseball Lingo

The man best known as Yogi Berra, Lawrence Peter, is still affecting the way the modern day baseball society views the game. In fact, there is no other player that has a set of terms, in this case “Yogi-isms,” which predicate modern day baseball linguistics.

Perhaps it is the all of the World Series records that the former New York Yankees player set, including becoming a fifteen-time All-Star, or holding the records for most World Series games started by a catcher with 71.

No matter what it is, ever since he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972, Yogi Berra memorabilia isn’t cheap. Signed baseballs from his heyday regularly fetch hundreds of dollars online. But there is another form of Yogi Berra sports memorabilia that all fans should make sure to acquire—the recently released book of Yogi-isms.

“The Yogi Book” is a volume of Yogi’s most famous expressions and sayings, which his family members have recorded over the years. It is 128 pages worth of comments, expressions, photos and history of one of baseball’s most beloved players.

Don Cherry Gives Sidney Crosby Same Criticism as Other Greats

One of the best-known hockey commentators, Don Cherry, made sure to let CBS Sports know just how much of a fan he is of Pittsburgh Penguins team captain, Sidney Crosby. He also said that he views Crosby no differently than any other great hockey players that have ever played a game in which he has provided commentary for.

Cherry spoke out to CBS Sports as a back draft to media speculation that he and Sidney Crosby exchanged angry words with each other during the intermission of game five of the Stanley Cup Finals. Of course, this is nothing new according to Cherry, who has been known for lambasting other great players such as Wayne Gretzky.

In a June 3 interview with CBS Sports, Cherry defended his remarks about Crosby, “If you ask Gretzky, I gave it to Gretzky pretty good because he was flopping around. I tried to tell Crosby what’s going on.”

Sidney Crosby is easily comparable to other hockey greats and is best known for being the leading hockey playoff scorer with 26 points scored and 20 assists. A measure not easily attained by any player, and one that certainly drives up the value of any Sidney Crosby memorabilia, Stanley Cup or not.

As Cherry finished his rebuttal of Game 5 words exchanged, he did note that he had nothing against Crosby, “He is a good hockey player. I have nothing against the kid.”

A-Rod Awarded Hitter of the Year by MLB.com

Alex Rodriguez, best known for his power-hitting stint with the New York Yankees, was awarded the prestigious Hitter of the Year ward by MLB.com on Monday, June 9. A-Rod was recognized for his many accomplishments while batting for the Yanks during the 2007 season.

Most recently, the slugger has been out of commission during the month of May due to a strained right quad, which landed him a spot on the Yankees’ 15-day disabled list. Team doctors cleared Rodriguez to play again on May 20.

Even after missing 17 games while on the DL, A-Rod still has an impressive 10 homers on his resume for stats in the 2008 season. And, while there may be those who have their own opinion on the high salary paid to Rodriguez, there is no question of his ability.

After sitting on the bench for several weeks, A-Rod was ready to give it a go again, and the numbers prove wrong all naysayers. While the hitter was sitting on the bench, the Yankees suffered a miserable 6-11 record during that 17-game stretch. But after he came back, the Yanks are already back to a much more respectable 12-7. Perhaps it does not take $28 million per year to win. But when you see the affect that just one player has on a team as a whole, in my opinion, if it amounts to wins, its money well spent.

More than 9-million MLB fans cast their votes on MLB.com to determine just who would be awarded as the Hitter of the Year for 2007. The fans spoke, and they determined this to be none other than Alex Rodriguez. In contrast, A-Rod memorabilia is as popular as ever. He is off to a great start this year, and led the league last year in stats overall as a hitter, posting a batting average of .314, 156 RBIs and 54 homeruns.

Lakers-Celtics to Hash out Bragging Rights to Forty Year Bitter Rivalry

By Michael Lazar

The last time that the Boston Celtics marched their team into the NBA Championships, Ronald Reagan was preaching about Microeconomics and his wife was making sure that all of the urinal cakes had her trademarked logo on them, “Just say no.” But this time everybody is gearing up for what is being lauded as the match-up of a century; one that pits two bitter and ancient rivals against each other for all of the marbles, and of course bragging rights that will beset their past forty plus years of rivalry. That’s right, the Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers have hated each other since the early 1960s.

But the lauding of such a coveted match-up does not just ride on the teams themselves, but rather, their star players. In this up-and-coming showdown, to be aired on ABC this Thursday following Jimmy Kimmel Live, it will be pitting two of today’s best basketball players against each other in a winner-takes-all rivalry game. Of course, I am talking about none other than Paul Pierce against Kobe Bryant—the two leaders of the East and West powerhouse teams that have hated each other for almost half a century.

Well now they get to prove who has the better team. Who is better stacked and ready to take it all when the final buzzer is ringing? And you will not hear the folks over at ABC complaining too much about it either. After suffering a lack of viewer interest during the NBA Championship last season, they could not be any happier that these two teams are set to battle it out in a no-holds-barred, rivalry rematch that has been nearly twenty years in the making.

Just ask Doug White, the acquisition director at ESPN, who in a Sunday interview with the Hollywoodreporter.com had this to say about the ratings frenzy that this classic 1987 rematch creates: “To get a match-up between two of, arguably, the most storied franchises in the league is really a great opportunity for us, and a great opportunity for the fans to see some great basketball.”