Say what you will about the internet, but it really is the gift that keeps on giving when it comes to viral videos!
Don’t believe me? Fine. Be that way.
For those of you who are picking up what I’m throwing down though, I’ve got another batch of delicious internet awesomeness for you to check out. This week in “When Sports Go Viral,” we’ve got a couple of pro athletes goofing off, an interesting dangle from the KHL’s All-Star weekend and a highlight from the support staff!
Let’s start with the latest viral video from Phoenix Suns star Steve Nash – not content with playing in the NBA, Nash is apparently trying to convince ESPN to let him enter the Real Snow snowboard competition.
Check out Nash debuting The Corn Chopper:
(AFTER THE JUMP: More sporty viral videos!) (more…)
We are down to eight teams left now in the National Football League.
In the AFC, the New England Patriots (13-3) will host the Denver Broncos (8-8) this evening (CBS, 6pm) in the most anticipated game of the weekend.
Tebownmania is larger now than it ever has, and possibly ever will be. But the bottom line is how many championships in the NFL has Tim Tebow won? The answer is zero and he will be up against a quarterback that has won three Super Bowls, is a two-time MVP and is a seven-time Pro Bowler in Tom Brady. And oh yes, the Patriots hammered the Broncos 41-23 in Denver on December 18, as Brady threw for 320 yards, including 129 yards to underrated tight end Aaron Hernandez. I’m picking New England in a rout.
Thursday was a fantastic day in Canadian golf, as Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Saskatchewan recorded a two stroke lead at the Sony Open in Honolulu, Hawaii.
DeLaet leads 2010 Canadian Open champion Carl Pettersson of Sweden, 2011 Players Championship winner K.J. Choi and American Kyle Reifers by two strokes after shooting a sizzling 7-under 63 after the first round.
DeLaet, who was not on the PGA Tour in 2011, missed the majority of last year due to a back injury. The highlight of DeLaet’s round was an eagle on the ninth hole. David Hearn of Brampton, Ontario is also in the hunt at -4. Calgary’s Stephen Ames is tied for 17th, four strokes off the lead.
This is the second event on the PGA Tour this season. Last week in Kapalua, Maui, Steve Stricker won the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. That event is only for golfers who won on the PGA Tour in the 2011 calendar year. There were no Canadians participating in that particular golf event.
The United States of America have won the 2011 Presidents Cup in Melbourne, Australia.
Saturday night (Sunday afternoon in Melbourne), the Americans got singles victories from Hunter Mahan, Nick Watney, Jim Furyk, David Toms, Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker to beat the International Team 19-15.
But it was the play of Woods and Toms in round five singles action that impressed me the most. Woods was in complete control in his match in defeating Australian Aaron Baddeley 4 & 3, and Toms was even more dominating in defeating fellow Australian Robert Allenby 7 & 5.
The most impressive American shot of the day came from Jim Furyk, who was the best American golfer all week, as he went 5-0. Furyk recorded an eagle on the second hole and never looked back in defeating Ernie Els 4 & 3.
With the win, the Americans continue to dominate the Presidents Cup. They have gone 7-1-1 since the first event took place in Gainesville, Virginia in 1994.
The Edmonton Eskimos are only one win away from the 99th Grey Cup in Vancouver, British Columbia next weekend.
On Sunday, they will have to find a way to beat the Lions without star running back Jerome Messam. As I mentioned earlier in the week, I find the possibility of the Eskimos’ running game getting going is still there because the Lions’ defensive line and ability to stop the run has sometimes been a weakness, even with Solomon Elimimian and Brent Johnson leading the way.
But the Eskimos will need to find a way themselves to do a better job in stopping quarterback Travis Lulay, the Western Division nominee for the Canadian Football League’s most outstanding player award. In the Lions’ 29-20 win over Edmonton on October 29, Lulay had three touchdown passes for 322 yards.
The United States remain in the lead of the International squad 7-5 after Day Two of the Presidents Cup in Melbourne, Australia.
On Thursday (Friday in Melbourne), the Americans and the International team split the six four ball matches.
Two American teams have impressed me significantly to date. Yesterday I was very impressed with Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson. They won again today defeating Ernie Els of South Africa and Ryo Ishikawa of Japan 3 & 1.
I was also very impressed with Jim Furyk, the 2o03 United States Open Champion, who won his second consecutive match by pairing up with Phil Mickelson. The duo defeated Australian Adam Scott and South Korean Kyung-tae Kim 2 & 1. But the real reason the Americans got the point was because of Furyk’s putting, which was terrific in extremely windy conditions.
Once again, Tiger Woods lost. This time with Dustin Johnson to the Australian duo of Jason Day and Aaron Baddeley 1 up. Woods is the only American not to get on the scoreboard yet.
In other action, the American duo of Steve Stricker and Matt Kuchar defeated Y.E. Yang of South Korea and Robert Allenby of Australia 4 & 3. Australian Geoff Ogilvy, with a terrible mustache, and South Korean K.J. Choi defeated Bill Haas and Nick Watney 1 up and the South African duo of Charl Schwartzel and Retief Goosen defeated Hunter Mahan and David Toms 2 & 1.
While most sports news outlets are discussing Adam Scott’s blowout victory with K.J. Choi over Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker, I am taking this blog into a different direction.
The Americans, except for Woods and Stricker, played almost flawlessly on Wednesday night taking a 4-2 lead over the International squad after Day One of the President’s Cup in Melbourne, Australia.
In last night’s foursome play, the one American golfer I was impressed with the most was Webb Simpson, who is starting to become a household name in the sport. He teamed up with Bubba Watson and surprisingly took out Ernie Els and Ryo Ishikawa 4 & 2.
If you haven’t heard of Simpson, it is now time. The 26 year-old native of Raleigh, North Carolina finished second on the PGA Tour money list last season after winning the Wyndham Championship in his home state and the Deutsche Bank Championship during the Fedex Playoffs.
Simpson, who seemed to be nervous early in his round, credits Watson for significantly calming him down.
In other impressive American victories yesterday, David Toms and Hunter Mahan defeated the South Korean duo of Kyung-tae Kim and Y.E. Yang 6 & 5, while Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk beat Robert Allenby and Retief Goosen 4 & 3.
Getting back to K.J. Choi who helped Scott beat Woods and Stricker 7 up, Choi almost made one of the most remarkable golf shots of all-time. With his back completely to the hole, he used the slope of a hill to the right of the hole to get his golf ball a few inches away from the cup.
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame: the Edmonton Eskimos are off to the CFL’s West Final after a dominating performance against the Calgary Stampeders, but can they beat the Lions? On the ice – we look into the 1-3-1 controversy and the Milan Lucic hit on Buffalo Sabres goalie Ryan Miller. As well, the UFC makes its debut on FOX and in boxing, Manny Pacquiao wins a close (and controversial) one over Juan Manuel Marquez.
In the GABBYs: Albert Haynesworth, Garrett McNamara, Wilson Ramos, Andrei Nazarov, Penn State, and Shawn Bradley. This week’s Punchline is John Daly!
On Thursday at the Australian Open John Daly put six balls in the water on the eleventh hole and walked off the course. It’s interesting because I heard one report from TSN saying it was seven, but when you shoot more than five balls in the water on one hole, and have no interest in continuing your round, I’m not surprised if one would lose count thereafter.
Remarkably Daly already had a two stroke penalty on the tenth hole for shooting the wrong ball out of the bunker!
I could blog about the fact that Tiger Woods currently has a one stroke lead over Australian Peter O’Malley, or the fact that Woods doesn’t seem too fazed by Steve Williams’ inappropriate comments at the Caddies’ dinner last week at the World Golf Championships in Shanghai, China (won by German Martin Kaymer), but I find Daly’s performance much more interesting.
Why? Because I think there is some sort of attachment to Daly with the Everyman golfer. People have a connection with him. They pull for him constantly in loud cheers when things go right and deeply feel sorry for him when he experiences grief and sorrow (history of divorce and alcohol issues).
But the bottom line is, why is he still getting sponsor’s exemptions? Why is he taking a spot of a golfer that deserves a spot considerably more than he does? I understand the ratings issue, and when Daly is on his game, he drives ratings. But I also feel for those golfers who are on the brink of making the PGA Tour– the top prospects in the game–that are not getting the same opportunities because Daly’s personality is of high interest to the golf world.
Nikolai Khabibulin (Dan Nicholas, Wikimedia Commons)
From every angle possible, it is a great time to be an Edmonton Oilers fan. The kids are producing. The veterans are producing. The entire team is buying into Tom Renney’s defensive-minded system and Nikolai Khabibulin has been completely spectacular.
On Saturday night, the Oilers (8-2-2), visit the Phoenix Coyotes at Jobing.com Arena (CBC, 8pm). Edmonton is currently tied with the Chicago Blackhawks for first place in the Western Conference. They have also only given up 18 goals all season long, five fewer than second place Dallas at 23 goals. The recent play of Khabibulin led Brad May of Rogers Sportsnet to say last night that Khabibulin right now “is the best goaltender in the NHL.”
The Coyotes meanwhile are trying to get to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the third year in a row. The last two seasons they have lost to the Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference Quarterfinals. So far in 2011-12, they are 6-4-2, and tied with the Nashville Predators, Colorado Avalanche, San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings for fifth place in the Western Conference.
The Coyotes’ top player this season is Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta native Ray Whitney, who leads Phoenix with five goals, seven assists.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame we discuss the latest in the Oilers arena negotiations and the team’s start to the season, the Arron Asham “go to sleep” incident, and we go through some stats in a new feature we like to call “Early Season Stats Are Stupid!”
In the GABBYs: The Edmonton Eskimos, Anthony Calvillo, the Tampa Bay Lightning, Rick DiPietro, Rob Sloan, and the Chicago Blackhawks. This week’s Punchline is the Tiger Woods hot dog guy!
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame we welcome back the NHL with a series of predictions for the upcoming season (top teams, biggest surprises and more!), plus we take a look at how the Edmonton Oilers look (very) early on, and we analyze the NY Rangers decision to waive Sean Avery.
In the GABBYs: the NHL, Jaromir Jagr, MFC champ Ryan Jimmo, Tiger Woods, Jussi Jokinen and the NCAA. This week’s Punchline is Hank Williams Jr. and ESPN!
Canada’s Mike Weir underwent elbow surgery on Thursday and will be out for the next three to six months.
It is a process he should have gone through a year ago, as I have constantly stated on www.anysportanytime.ca.
Weir, currently 41 years of age, still has a few more years left of high calibre golf in my opinion, and I am very pleased to hear that he is undergoing the process. Weir has only made two cuts in fifteen events in 2011, at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course near San Diego back in January and at the AT&T National at Washington, D.C. this past July.
Weir has been having these elbow issues for more than a year. He suffered the torn ligament in his right elbow last season and elected to rest his ailment rather than have surgery. The surgery performed by all-star surgeon Dr. James Andrews in Florida is something he should have done a while ago. Playing through pain and not having surgery right away historically leads to more issues than anything else.
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame: The Edmonton Eskimos drop two straight, but can they get back on track against BC? The Toronto Blue Jays get some solid contributions from a top prospect in a week where they’re accused of “stealing signs,” and a couple of former Oilers move on from the NHL for very different reasons.
In the GABBYs: Real Madrid, Oscar Pistorius, Eri Yoshida, the Lake County Fielders, the US ski team and Tiger Woods.
Say what you will about the internet, but it really is the gift that keeps on giving when it comes to viral videos!
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