Meet Mr. Ovechkin Now Before It's Too Late

Hi, My name is Alexander Mikhaylovich Ovechkin. I am 23 years old and I will eventually become the 2nd greatest hockey player of all-time.

Now that you have met him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf20WDhZgJg

Watch Him

If you don't want to watch. I totally understand. And I'm not expecting the readers of this blog to be hockey fans.

But for a little boy out of Moscow, Russia picking up pee-wee hockey equipment and never letting go at the age of 2 was the beginning of his dream and now long gone to a 13-year $124 million dollar contract.

So how good is this kid at the age of 23? Why was he on the cover on of every sporting magazine this past year?

Answer: Hard work + Passion + A ton of "Enthusiasm"= Dominance

Alexander is so special because if you are going to at least make an attempt to mention Gretzky and Ovechkin in the same sentence, you're going to have to do it maybe in goals.

in 4 NHL seasons he has 163 goals and counting (season isn't over).

Gretzky on the other hand has 894 regular season golas and 122 playoff goals in 20 years.

Ovechkin can get real close, but when you're referring to robots(i.e. T. Woods, W Greatzky). Compute Error, Epic Fail.

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So big deal, he's a great hockey player.

I know I tried to say the same thing until he scored on his back and on one knee.

It's his passion for the sport. There is a big difference when you know your opponent is incapable of stopping your shot(Gretzky).

If you honestly look at Gretzky highlights. It's pathetic. After he scores, he congratulates the assisting teammates gives a grin and a chuckle and pats their heads.

When Ovechkin scores it's like watching an earthquake, or a conscious man seize. It's funny, but it's entertaining. If you think about it, and I'm not a scientist or an Anatomy major, but when you score a goal in hockey or soccer the body gives off a release. A weight off your back. Which causes the brain to relapse into a physical, visual meltdown. Trust me these people are sane when they score, unless you're Wayne Gretzky and you're not reaching a milestone. (nice)

Alex brings a presence to the game that attracts people. The fan base of the Washington Capitals has increased because of him. Ratings increase because of him. Honestly, the only thing I don't see Ovechkin pulling off is 10 minute standing ovations(again, Gretzky)

For some reason people think it is frowned upon. But if you watch a game and see him score, you see that weight lift off his shoulders every time. It brings light to the game of hockey again and makes it enjoyable not only to watch in person but on television.

That 'light" plus having 3 straight 50 goal season, only inches him closer of becoming the 2nd greatest of all time.

163 goals in 4 seasons....multiply that 5x. you get 815. Minus injuries, but include playoff goals. It would be really depressing when he gets close and not succeed. Anything's possible but Gretzky set the bar toooooo high.

3-Time Sprint Cup Champion's First Win of 2009

Last year, I did a paper about Jimmie Johnson. I was talking mostly about his dominance in his "Sport".... Nascar(yes this is a sports).
I got laughed at twice, actually three times.
Reasons
1. I was a black guy(almond brown, African-American) talking about Nascar. Funny because more minorities invest in Nascar than any other sport.
2. I was talking about how he was going to dethrone Richard "The King" Petty's Nascar wins record of 200. I was almost shot mentioning this feat to two people in Norwood, Ohio. A lot of Nascar fans reside there. And being black (A-A-A Almond...Afr. Amer) just made it worse.
3. I cried talking about Jimmie Johnson. Honestly, that blue car is a work of art. And he deserves more respect.

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I know you're wondering why I'm telling you this story. Also, I know you're wondering why I am shooting the breeze about Jimmie Johnson when the Final Four stage is set in Detroit.
Answer: He's on the verge of eclipsing sports history.

He is on the verge of winning his fourth consecutive Sprint Cup title. Something that no man has ever done. Just tying Carl Yarborough for winning 3 championships wasn't enough. He's going to do it one race at a time at his pace.

And it showed Sunday @ Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virgina.

This is where Johnson captured his first win of the year.
And this quietly made 2 statements in Nascar.
1. He's making his run to the championship 6 races in.
2. He is exactly on pace to own Richard Patty's record. Something ESPN has not mentioned . yet at least.

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Another Note: Fox mentioned earlier about Gordon winnning at Martinsville 7 times. They showed him in a segment on the pregame show with a ton of women around him with champagne and it was rediculous. Mind you that I like Gordon. I'm a Rick Hendrik believer.
But also, mind you that the guy in second place at Martinsville is Jimmie. And with the win today would give him 6 at Martinsville. If you look at the headline for ESPN it says, "Mr. Martinsville". Wow so much for hyping up Gordon. But he should bounce back.

Hmm. Since I mentioned Gordon here's a fun fact.

Jeff Gordon was introduced to Sprint/Nextel/Winston Cup play in 1994. Since then, there have been 15 Nascar seasons.** He has captured 81 wins. Oh yeah he is on a 47 race losing streak.

Jimmie Johnson was introduced to Sprint/Nextel Cup play in 2001. Since then, there have been 8 Nascar Seasons.** He has captured 41 wins. And again he won today
Jimmie is exactly half way on being just as good as Gordon, if not better.
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This win at Martinsville was HUGE.

He is in fourth place in the standings and only 142 points back.
Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth have the most wins this year with 2 and they are behind Johnson in the standings. Busch in 6th and Kenseth in 12th.
His teammate and buddy Jeff Gordon is in first place in the standings with no wins.
Johnson is creeping and preparing to dominate race by race. Coasting in the top 5 is his game all year long....every year. Winning the race is the topping.

He will be the greatest driver in the history of Nascar. And by looking at the standings this week. He leads the pack with the beat of his drum. Everyone else.... will just have to follow.

** Both drivers have started in Busch/Nationwide series races before their first actual Winston/Nextel/Sprint Cup races.

No Cinderella....No Story.

I'm five days late on the blog.
I have an excuse.
Most exciting moment in the tournament. Villanova's buzzer beater. It was a great moment in tournament history (this year) and Villanova's history. Other big stories in this years tournament. Seriously, let's name them:
1. Siena def Ohio St. (not really...big, but news worthy)
2. Arizona...(meh) They didn't deserve to be in the tournament but got and made a scare. Also they were a 12 seed.
3. Cleveland St.. Whatever. Wake wasn't prepared as usual. They figured they would coast
4. Kansas. They lose all of their players and try to repeat as national champions. They struggle but give their all to Louisville.
5. Dayton def West Virginia: Huggins meltdown.
6. Missouri... I'll talk about them later.
7. Memphis. Their 27 game win streak had to end sometime. Just like the one they had last year. I'm not surprised.
8. Xavier. It was depressing for me, but it had to end in the Sweet 16 or the Elite 8. It was a just matter or time. Bad ball handling. and FOOT ON THE LINE. Watch the highlight. Whatever
9. Villanova. Talked about it.
10. Western Kentucky. 12 seed.
11. Syaracuse. Boehiem's still trying to create a team like he had a couple of years ago. It's almost there. Tried to do it with McNamara, now doing it with Jonny Flynn.
12. Michigan St. Can Tom Izzo and his "worn-down, great broadcaster" voice win another tournament?
13. Oklahoma. Blake Griffin, Blake Griffin, Blake Griffin. I'm tired of hearing it. He's dominant and he works hard. But please quit "Meat Hopping".
14. The Italian Mob. Izzo(MSU), Pitino(UL), Calhoun(UCONN)...Calipari(Mem)
-----Almost made the list.
Michigan (Don't ask me)

Honestly these stories would be better than having all number one seeds make the final. I guess the only other big story is The Big East run in the tournament. You have to give props to them. The conference has really improved. And after this year. The Big East should be a ligit powerhouse. Honestly, I didn't think so until now. Sorry. I feel bad now. I know. UCONN, Pitt, Syracuse, Lousiville.....and it goes on. Honestly, I'll say this... It's fun watching the Big East conference duel it reminds me of watching a Fencing match or Curling.
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As we head out of the weekend in to a new week, we find out in college basketball that what was so hyped up to be a great 64-team tournament. Should have been a 16-team tournament.

The only surprising story was If little Xavier or Arizona could pull off the upset. As we got closer to the Elite 8, we looked at Missouri to see if they knocked on heaven's door hard enough. No Answer.

Which brings me to my point. Yeah it's great to see the big teams duke it out. But it only raises the question.... If the committee and media is thinking about expanding the tournament, you're only delaying the top teams time of winning it sooner.

I made 2 brackets. It had a lot of upsets. One bracket had teams that my heart wanted to win. The other bracket had what was actually going to happen.

I was a little off but I had it almost right. Honestly. My point is.... That is boring. I don't want to know what's actually going to happen. I want to be surprised. I want CBS to add some outside stories about these other schools. I want to make popcorn. I want to know more about these young players from little towns. That's why this blog is 4-5 days late. It's pointless to talk about The "same ole' -same old"(yes...ole and old) stuff. It's not news worthy. You can say it's common knowledge.

I'll let ESPN or CBS take that garbage.

And if you're listening to the podcast or The Dan Patrick on JKB you'll find out that we're not talking about it that much. It's not that special. Maybe, The potential Big East duel at the end.
I'm not happy. I'm getting ready for the NFL Draft, a New MLB season, Nascar, The Masters.

But if you want my picks.... wait until the April 3rd. I will still be blogging don't worry. Keep voting and listening.

Great Coach... Bad Loss

Pat Summitt's resume at the University of Tennessee, not only among women but coaching in general, is impressive.

If you ask me, Impressive is the wrong word.

I don't understand why not many networks are talking about this bad loss. Is this not news?

I understand that it is not a good thing to talk about a loss. But she had an amazing year. Not only that a career that is better than any coach or manager known to man and woman.

Pat Summitt's record in a 35 year coaching career is 1005-192.

Looking at this record makes you want to swear. Because to keep college students around, coming back to your school and recruiting amazing basketball players around the country over and over for 3 1/2 decades. That's rediculous and shocking. I think she has the hardest coaching job in the country. And she consistently does a damn good job. (sorry for my language)

So WHAT... She has a great resume...

Yeah sure....

Pat Summitt's resume excluding the almost perfect record. (She wins 5 out of every 6 games in her career in 35 years.................I'm about to go insane ahhhhhhhhhhhhh ugghhhhhhhhhh)

Whatever.. Here it is.

8 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championships

1987,1989,1991,1996,1997,1998,2007,2008)

14-time SEC Champions(1980, 1985, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007)

13-time SEC Tournament Champions(1980, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2005, 2006, 2008)

Awards
7 Time SEC Coach of the Year (1993,1995,1998,2001,2003,2004,2007)7 Time NCAA Coach of the Year (1983,1987,1989,1994,1995,1998,2004)Naismith Coach of the 20th Century

7-time NCAA Coach of the Year (1983, 1987, 1989, 1994, 1995, 1998, 2004)

On top of that amazing garnage she has lying around her house. (Or plantation, because she "breeds" amazing talent)

She has 2 streets in her name and 2 courts named after her. .....Whatever.

They inducted her into the Basketball Hall Of Fame in 1999. Because she was no where near planning to retire. (They do that to all coaches...Coaches tend to come back and coach more).

Final Note: She is the first coach (Man or Woman, though she's only coached women) in NCAA history to reach 1000 wins as a head coach.

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Well the news I wanted to break to you is that she is the first NCAA womens coach to lose a first round tournament game after winning a championship the previous year.

Monday, I called in to The Dan Patrick show to give my "Best and Worst Of The Weekend". A segment he has every Monday. I sat on hold for an hour right before Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski) was on air (Yes on hold with Coach K) and I was listening to the Fox Sports News Report and they didn't mention it.

So I get on air on Dan's show and I forgot to mention it. I finished listening to DP and he didn't mention it. I even emailed him afterwards. And they weren't planning to talk about it.

This was a huge loss, a colossal upset, which involved a 5th seed Tennessee vs. 12th seed Ball State(Fun fact: The 12 seed for some reason beats the 5 seed every now and then....Do not ask me why). And Coach Summitt did something no other coach has done before and we didn't hype it up.

Was it because she was a woman? Or did the media finally do a good job for once? And I'm including myself. I didn't report it either on my show.

Pat Summitt is an amazing coach. One bad loss for her is not that big of a deal. She has done so much for not only women, but i guarantee you that she gives advice to men that are coaches.

And I mean IN GENERAL. I'm not talking basketball.

How do you get your team to focus every year, knowing that you're going to have new players eventually? I don't understand.

She is the ultimate coach. When you rank coaches of all-time, you have to put her name up there. Because if you don't your defying history. She changed women's basketball and I'm assuming that more women play basketball because of her.

45 of her former players have gone on to become coaches. And I'm thinking that other women outside of her program wants to become coaches. People sellout to see her. There is actually a waiting list to see her coach. And wherever she goes people follow. If it wasn't for Pat, women's basketball wouldn't be as huge today.

Pat Summitt, You can lose as many games as you want. Even though it was a HUGE LOSS in Women's Basketball history.........I won't report it. And I won't give a damn. (again sorry for my language)

Again Sorry for my typos. and sorry this wasn't a big story. The NCAA tournament starts back up tomorrow. so hold on to your Dockers.

Great Job Japan.... Let's Play Baseball Now

Ok Japan......
What was this..... another lesson?
You have shown the US and the rest of the world why you dominate baseball.
Sooner or later Major league Baseball will be full of Ichiro's or in other words freaks of baseball.

But is this a good thing or a bad thing for baseball? Kinda Both. But it depends on your mood. Your baseball mood

Well first fans, Let me ask you a question. Did you watch any of the World Baseball Classic? Because I sure as hell didn't. I think i watched a total of 13 innings.... Seriously. I saw the US get smacked 9-4. And i saw Ichiro's great performance last night.
Folks, I can tell you I wasn't surprised.

I called it. But hold on... You called it too. Is that the reason why you didn't watch. Yeah I know.

I think everyone knows that. Not only the country of Japan, But the Japanese will be.....WILL BE a powerhouse in baseball in the future. Filled with legendary hitters and pitchers.

Ichiro Suzuki alone. Alone! Has been in the league, the MLB, 8 years. He's 35 years old, 5'11', a mean 172 pounds. And folks... his numbers are astonishing. He has 1805 hits. He averages at least 210 hits a year. That's rediculous. In the past 15 years, including his stats in Japan, he hasn't "thought" about batting below .300 average. His full season in 1994 in Japan he hit .385. His first year in the majors he hit .350. Both his career batting average and his career in the MLB is serparated by a meer .022 points. Yeah a .331 average.

Now come on. Did we really need to watch the World Baseball Classic? If one man on Japan's squad posts up numbers like that. Seriously, It's a waste of my time.
Here's a bold statement. Americans will never dominate Baseball. Not Possible. Impossible.

But you the people that were excited about the WBC. The owners of our Major League baseball teams and their goons....General Managers and Scouts.

Have you seen a bucket of honey barbecue chicken wings from KFC? Picture 82 buckets and 64 people and no paper towels. Rediculous.
You get a mess. Checkbooks flying, pens running out of ink, and tons of sweat.

They take advantage of these amazing players in Japan.... because they have no time to breed amazing talent in the US. These owners pony up, out of the lent of their pockets, 50 million dollars just to negotiate "contracts" with again.....these amazing Japanese players. Not mention Korea came in a mean second against Japan.

Honestly, here's what I think. We have the WBC every two or fours year... I don't even know. Seriously. Honestly, do you think Bud Selig makes an event so that the world can get together and play a friendly game? An again...Honestly, Do you think that Japanese and Korean players are doing their normal jobs today.
Yes and No.
Some players are hanging by their phones today. Some players are not even thinking about the game anymore. Honestly....and I'm getting tired of saying the word honestly....
With the economy today, I should hope that not all these winners in the WBC even think about coming over to the states. Let's get back to playing baseball. Real baseball. The way it was meant to be played. Yeah bring some players from other countries over, but don't make them our puppets and fool them with our cruel antics.

Point number two.

I don't plan to watch an event to see my favorite players in my home country and watch them get hurt. Because they're straining themseleves to perform well for their home country.
Not only that..... They are getting ready to play a 162 games season in less than 2 weeks.

It's fun to see these rosters for these different countries. But it's not worth seeing them hurt when I want them to do well in the MLB.
I made that short and sweet.

In conclusion.....forget it. Play Baseball...... and my listeners and fans, just live with it and watch. We don't have a say anyway... right?

So what- this was a Pointless Blog entry. College Basketball doesn't start for another 2 days. I had to rant about something.
And be patient the audiocast as well as the simulcast will be on here soon.

***If there are typos I'm sorry. I kinda have someone on that. Thanks Brandi
***VP of Gram. & Punc. -Fill in the dots.

A New Sports Year Brewing

Happy New Year.
Yes, my new year starts now. Tax season is here, baseball is around the corner, the NBA and NHL season is ending, spring football players are prepping and shining the pads and Nascar drivers are loose after a few races.
Why does my season start now? When we just got done with the BCS and its problems, the Super Bowl and March Maddness is boiling over.

It's about timing.

In the month of April we sports fans have a lot to cheer about.
The NCAA Championship game
Baseball Season begins
The Masters
NBA and NHL Playoffs
The NFL Draft
Please be mindful of all the headlines about everything that could possible happen in the wide world of sports.
Folks, It's not just a month. I treat April as an event.

Not only on my blog, but on my website and my brewing podcast. You will get my opinions and views about sports. I'm blatant... I'm mean. But I'm to the point. I'm open minded and I am funny. That's the only reason why I got into the business and why my producer signed me. Because I'm hilarious.
This blog and my podcast is all about the fan. It's all about you. and "hopefully" with my amazing friends we will achieve sports sanity. Which means we are all insanely in love about sports, but we all can become one with each others help.
My Starting Lineup
Anthony Suttinger-Soccer, NHL, NFL, other
Rodney Dunlap-Everything sports related
Shawn Pinkston-NFL, NBA
"My 6th Men"
Michael Kaser
Josh "DJ Shutdown" Kimber
Lance "Bull" Durham
TBNL- (To be named later)
Those are just a few of the finest minds in sports in Cincinnati.
I only have about 150 fans. But week to week it has increased. We can do this. Let's start the new year off right in April.
My facebook page has a link to my website. and blogspot will carry a link to the audiocast---> soon to be podcast. It's downloadable so quit your crying and enjoy.